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LIBRARY  OF  THE  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 

PRINCETON,     N.    J. 

Presented  by 

The.  Wi^rr^ow*   oT  G-eoTf^elDiyvo'an      ^£ 

BT    751    .W25  "^ 

I  Warfield,    Benjamin 

Breckinridge,    1851-1921. 
The   power   of   God   unto 


^ 


.^^ 


"^ — 5^_i:l 


THE   POWER 
OF  GOD   UNTO   SALVATION 


Ben.iamin  p..  Warfield,  I).I>..  r.Ti.n. 


^be  prcebvtciian  pulpit 


— * 


I     OCT  rn; 
THE  POWER         .^ 

OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 


/       BY 

BENJAMIN   B.  WARFIELD,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

Professor  in  Princeton  Theological  Seminary 


PHILADELPHIA 

PRESBYTERIAN   BOARD   OF  PUBLICATION 
AND  SABBATH-SCHOOL  WORK 

1903 


/ 


Copyright,  1903,  by  the  Trustees  of 
The  Presbyterian  Board  of  Publication  and  Sabbath- 
School  Work 

Published  April,  IQ03 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 


I.  The  Revelation  of  Man 

II,  The  Saving  Christ  . 

III.  The  Argument  from  Experience 

IV.  The  Paradox  of  Omnipotence 
V.  The  Love  of  the  Holy  Ghost 

VI.  The  Leading  of  the  Spirit     . 

VII.  Paul's  Earliest  Gospel  . 

VIII.  False  Religion  and  the  True 


•       3 

29 

•     57 

93 

.    121 

.   151 

.   183 

219 

The  Sermons  included  in  this  volume  have  all 

BEEN   preached    IN    THE  CHAPEL   OF  THE  THEOLOGICAL 

Seminary  at  Princeton 
vi 


I 

THE  REVELATION   OF  MAN 


THE 

POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

I 

THE  REVELATION  OF  MAN 

**  But  one  hath  somewhere  testified,  saying,  What  is  man,  that 
Thou  art  mindful  of  him  ?  Or  the  son  of  man,  that  Thou  visitest 
him?  Thou  madest  him  a  little  lower  than  the  angels;  Thou 
crownedst  him  with  glory  and  honor;  Thou  didst  put  all  things 
in  subjection  under  his  feet.  For  in  that  He  subjected  all 
things  unto  him,  He  left  nothing  that  is  not  subject  to  him. 
But  now  we  see  not  yet  all  things  subjected  to  him.  But  we 
behold  Him  who  hath  been  made  a  little  lower  than  the  angels, 
even  Jesus,  because  of  the  suffering  of  death,  crowned  with 
glory  and  honor." — Heb.  ii.  6-9.     (R.  V.) 

These  words  form  the  beginning  of  a  marvel- 
ous passage  the  subject  of  which  is  "  Christ  our 
Representative."  That  He  might  become  our 
Representative,  the  inspired  writer  teaches,  it  was 
needful  that  He  should  identify  Himself  with  us. 
Therefore  it  was  that  He  became  man. 

Language  had  been  exhausted  to  exhibit  the 
divine  dignity  of  our  Representative.  In  contrast 
with  those  men  of  God,  the  prophets,  in  whom 

3 


4       THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

God  dwelt  and  through  whom  God  spoke,  He  is 
called  a  Son  through  whom  the  worlds  were 
made  and  by  the  word  of  whose  power  all  things 
are  upheld ;  who  is  the  effulgence  of  God's  glory 
and  the  very  impression  of  His  substance.  In 
contrast  with  the  most  exalted  of  the  creatures 
of  God,  the  angels.  He  is  given  the  more  excel- 
lent name  of  the  Son  of  God,  His  firstborn,  whom 
all  the  angels  of  God  shall  worship ;  nay,  He  is 
given  the  name  of  the  almighty  and  righteous 
God  Himself,  of  the  eternal  Lord,  who  in  the 
beginning  laid  the  foundations  of  the  earth  and 
framed  the  heavens,  and  who  shall  abide  the  same 
when  heaven  and  earth  wax  old  and  pass  away. 

Language  is  now  exhausted  to  emphasize  the 
perfection  of  the  identification  of  this  divine  being 
with  the  children  of  men,  when  He  who  by 
nature  was  thus  infinitely  exalted  above  angels 
was  made,  like  man,  "  a  little  lower  than  the 
angels  .  .  .  because  of  the  suffering  of  death." 
"  It  behooved  Him,"  we  are  told,  '*  in  all  things 
to  be  made  like  unto  His  brethren  "  ;  and  "  since 
then  the  children  are  sharers  in  blood  and  flesh, 
He  also  Himself  in  like  manner  partook  of  the 
same,"  in  order  ''  that  through  death  He  might 
bring  to  nought  him  that  had  the  power  of  death, 
that  is,  the  devil ;  and  might  deliver  all  them  who 


THE  REVELATION  OF  MAN  5 

throu":h  fear  of  death  were  all  their  lifetime  sub- 
ject  to  bondage."  The  emphasis  is  upon  the 
completeness  of  the  identification  of  the  Son  of 
God  with  the  sons  of  men,  that  by  His  sufferings 
many  sons  might  be  brought  unto  glory.  And 
the  implication  is  that  as  He  was  thus  so  com- 
pletely identified  with  us  for  His  work,  so  we  are 
equally  completely  identified  with  Him  in  the 
fruits  of  that  work.  He  shared  with  us  our  estate 
that  we  might  share  His  merit  with  Him. 

There  is  a  great  deal  more  precious  truth  in 
this  passage  than  we  can  profitably  attempt  to 
consider  in  a  single  discourse  The  whole 
gospel  of  the  grace  of  God  is  in  it.  I  have 
chosen  its  initial  words  for  my  text,  and  I  pur- 
pose to  ask  you  to  fix  your  attention  on  its 
initial  thought — the  perfect  identification  of 
Christ  with  man.  And  even  this  in  only  one  of 
its  aspects,  viz.:  the  consequent  revelation  of  man 
which  is  brought  us  by  the  man  Christ  Jesus. 
Because  our  Lord  is  the  Son  of  God,  the  im- 
pressed image  of  God's  substance — as  the  stamp 
of  a  seal  is  the  impressed  image  of  the  seal — His 
advent  into  our  world  was  the  supreme  revelation 
of  God.  But,  equally,  because  of  His  perfect 
identification  with  the  children  of  men,  partaking 


6   THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

of  their  blood  and  flesh,  and  made  in  all  things 
like  unto  men,  He  stands  before  us  also  as  the 
perfect  revelation  of  man.  It  behooves  us  to 
look  with  wondering  eyes  upon  Him  whom  to 
see  is  to  see  the  Father  also,  that  we  may  learn  to 
know  God — the  God  and  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  who  "  so  loved  the  world,  that  He  gave 
His  only  begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believeth 
on  Him  should  not  perish,  but  have  eternal  life." 
It  may  also  behoove  us  to  look  upon  Him  who 
is  not  ashamed  to  call  us  brethren,  that  we  may 
learn  to  know  man — the  man  that  God  made  in 
His  own  image,  and  whom  He  would  rescue  from 
his  sin  by  the  gift  of  His  Son. 

The  text  assuredly  fully  justifies  us  in  looking 
upon  Christ  as  the  revelation  of  man.  It  begins, 
as  you  observe,  by  adducing  the  language  of  the 
eighth  Psalm,  in  which  God  is  adoringly  praised 
for  His  goodness  to  man  in  endowing  him, 
despite  his  comparative  insignificance,  with 
dominion  over  the  creatures.  The  psalmist  is 
contemplating  the  mighty  expanse  of  the  evening 
sky,  studded  with  its  orbs  of  light,  among  which 
the  moon  marches  in  splendor ;  and  he  is  filled 
with  a  sense  of  the  greatness  of  the  God  the 
work  of  whose  hands  all  this  glory  is.  **  O  Lord, 
our  Lord,  how  excellent  is  Thy  name  in  all  the 


THE  REVELATION  OF  MAN  7 

earth,  who  hast  set  Thy  glory  upon  the 
heavens !"  He  is  lost  in  wonder  that  such  a 
God  can  bear  in  mind  so  weak  a  thing  as  man. 
"  When  I  consider  Thy  heavens,  the  work  of  Thy 
fingers,  the  moon  and  the  stars,  which  Thou  hast 
ordained;  what  is  man,  that  Thou  art  mindful  of 
him,  and  the  son  of  man,  that  Thou  visitest 
him  ?"  But  his  wonder  and  adoration  reach 
their  climax  as  he  recounts  how  the  Author  of  all 
this  magnificent  universe  has  not  only  considered 
man,  but  made  him  lord  of  it  all.  In  an  inextin- 
guishable burst  of  amazed  praise  he  declares : 
"Thou  hast  made  him  but  little  lower  than  the 
angels,  and  crownedst  him  with  glory  and  honor. 
Thou  madest  him  to  have  dominion  over  the 
works  of  Thy  hands ;  Thou  hast  put  all  things 
under  his  feet."  He  enumerates  the  minor  ele- 
ments of  man's  strange  dominion,  emphasizing 
its  completeness  and  all-inclusiveness.  "  All 
sheep  and  oxen,  yea,  and  the  beasts  of  the  field ; 
the  fowl  of  the  air,  and  the  fish  of  the  sea, 
whatsoever  passeth  through  the  paths  of  the  seas." 
Nothing  is  omitted.  So  the  praise  returns  upon 
itself  and  the  Psalm  closes  with  the  repeated  and 
now  justified  exclamation,  "  O  Lord,  our  Lord, 
how  excellent  is  Thy  name  in  all  the  earth  !"  It 
is   a   hymn,  you  observe,  of  man's   dignity   and 


8       THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

honor  and  dominion.  God  is  praised  that  He 
has  dealt  in  so  wondrous  a  fashion  with  mortal 
man,  born  from  men,  that  He  has  elevated  him  to 
a  position  but  little  lower  than  that  of  the 
angels,  crowned  him  with  glory  and  honor,  and 
given  him  dominion  over  all  the  works  of  His 
hands. 

Now,  observe  how  the  author  of  this  epistle 
deals  with  the  Psalm.  He  adduces  it  as  authori- 
tative Scripture  declaring  indisputable  fact.  "  One 
hath  somewhere  testified,  saying.  What  is  man, 
that  Thou  art  mindful  of  him  ?  Or  the  son  of 
man,  that  Thou  visitest  him  ?  Thou  madest  him 
a  little  lower  than  the  angels  ;  Thou  crownedst 
him  with  glory  and  honor;  Thou  didst  put 
all  things  in  subjection  under  his  feet."  He 
expounds  its  meaning  accurately.  "  For  in  that 
He  subjected  all  things  unto  him.  He  left  nothing 
that  is  not  subject  to  him."  And  then  he  argues 
thus :  "  But  now  we  see  not  yet  all  things  sub- 
jected to  him.  But  we  behold  Him  who  hath 
been  made  a  little  lower  than  the  angels,  even 
Jesus,  because  of  the  suffering  of  death,  crowned 
with  glory  and  honor."  That  is,  of  course,  in 
Jesus  only  as  yet  do  we  see  in  actual  pos- 
session and  exercise,  in  its  completeness  and 
perfection,  that  majesty  and  dominion  which  the 


THE  REVELATION  OF  MAN  9 

inspired  psalmist  attributes  to  man.  God  has 
expressly  subjected  all  things  to  man ;  man  has 
obviously  not  entered  into  his  dominion ;  but  the 
man  Jesus  has.  Therefore  it  is  to  Him  that  we 
are  to  look  if  we  would  see  man  as  man,  man  in 
the  possession  and  use  of  all  those  faculties, 
powers,  dignities  for  which  he  was  destined  by 
his  Creator.  In  this  way  the  author  of  this  epis- 
tle presents  Jesus  before  us  as  the  pattern,  the 
ideal,  the  realization  of  man.  Looking  upon  Him, 
we  have  man  revealed  to  us. 

I  beg  you  to  keep  fully  in  mind  that  our  Lord's 
adaptation  to  reveal  to  us  what  man  is,  is  based 
by  the  author  of  this  epistle  solely  on  the  perfec- 
tion of  His  identification  with  us  in  His  incarna- 
tion. To  the  author  of  this  epistle,  our  Lord  in 
His  own  proper  person  is  beyond  all  comparison 
with  man.  As  God's  own  Son,  the  effulgence 
of  His  glory  and  the  impressed  image  of  His 
substance.  He  is  beyond  comparison  even  with 
prophets  and  infinitely  above  angels.  He  became 
identified  with  us  by  an  act  of  humiliation  and 
for  an  assigned  cause,  viz. :  for  the  sake  "  of  the 
suffering  of  death,"  that  is,  in  order  that  He 
might  be  able  to  undertake  and  properly  to  fulfill 
His  high-priestly   work — as  we   are  immediately 


lo  THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

instructed  in  detail.  This  act  of  humiliation  is 
expressed  here,  for  the  sake  of  giving  point  to 
the  argument,  in  language  derived  from  the 
Psalm :  "  He  hath  been  made  a  little  lower  than 
the  angels."  Observe,  then,  the  pregnant  difference 
which  emerges  in  the  use  of  this  phrase  of  man 
and  of  our  Lord.  That  man  was  made  but  little 
lower  than  the  angels  marks  the  height  of  his 
exaltation :  "  Thou  didst  make  him  a  little 
lower  than  the  angels,  Thou  didst  crown  him 
with  glory  and  honor."  That  our  Lord  was  made 
a  little  lower  than  the  angels,  marks  the  depth 
of  His  humiliation  :  "  We  behold  Jesus,  who  hath 
been  made  a  little  lower  than  the  angels  for  the 
suffering  of  death."  So  wide  is  the  interval  that 
stretches  between  Him  and  man.  He  stoops  to 
reach  the  exalted  heights  of  man's  as  yet  unat- 
tained  glory. 

But  the  perfection  of  His  identification  with  us 
consisted  just  in  this,  that  He  did  not,  when  He 
was  made  a  little  lower  than  the  angels  for  the 
suffering  of  death,  assume  merely  the  appearance 
of  man  or  even  merely  the  position  and  destiny 
of  man,  but  the  reality  of  humanity.  Note  the 
stress  laid  in  the  passage,  on  the  reality  of  the 
humanity  which  our  Lord  assumed,  when,  as  the 
inspired  writer  pointedly  declares,  He  was  made 


THE  REVELATION  OF  MAN  li 

like  to  His  brethren  in  all  things.     He  was  made 
like  them  in  their  physical  nature :  as  they  were 
"  sharers  in  blood  and  flesh,  He  also  Himself  in 
like   manner   partook    of   the    same."     He   was 
made   like   them   in   their   psychical   nature:    as 
they  suffered  and  were  tempted,  He  also  "  Him- 
self hath  suffered  being  tempted."     Jesus  Christ 
is   presented   before   us  here   as  a  true  and  real 
man,    possessed  of  every  faculty    and   capacity 
that  belongs  to  the  essence  of  our  nature :  as  a 
veritable  "son  of  man,"  born  of  a  woman,  and 
brother  to  all  those  whom  He  came  to  succor. 
It   is   because    He   was   in   this    true   and    com- 
plete sense  what  He  so  loved  to  call  Himself,  the 
Son  of  man — doubtless  with  as  full  reference  to 
the  eighth  Psalm  as  to  Daniel's  great  apocalypse 
— that  He  reveals  to  us  in  His  own  life  and  con- 
duct what  man  was  intended  to  be  in  the  plan  of 
God. 

We  must  keep  these  great  facts  in  mind  that 
we  may  preserve  the  point  of  view  of  the  inspired 
writer,  as  we  strive  to  follow  him  in  looking 
upon  Jesus  as  the  representative  man,  in  whose 
humanity  man  is  revealed  to  us.  He  is  not  the 
representative  man  in  the  sense  that  man  is  all 
that  He  is.  When  He  entered  the  sphere  of 
human  life,  by  the  assumption  of  a  human  nature, 


12  THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

He  did  not  lay  aside  I  lis  Godhead.  He  is, 
while  being  all  that  man  is,  infinitely  more.  He  is 
God  as  well  as  man.  He  is  not  the  representa- 
tive man  in  the  sense  that  in  Him  the  age-long 
process  of  man's  creation  was  first  completed — 
that  His  exalted  humanity  is  the  goal  toward 
which  nature  had  been  all  through  the  aeons 
travailing,  till  now  at  last  in  Him  the  man-child 
comes  to  a  tardy  birth.  He  is  the  revelation  of 
man  only  in  the  sense  that  when  we  turn  our 
eyes  toward  Him,  we  see  in  the  quality  of  His 
humanity  God's  ideal  of  man,  the  Creator's  inten- 
tion for  His  creature;  while  by  contrast  with  Him 
we  may  learn  the  degradation  of  our  sin ;  and 
happily  also  we  may  see  in  Him  what  man  is  to 
be,  through  the  redemption  of  the  Son  of  God 
and  the  sanctification  of  the  Spirit.  Let  us  think 
a  httle  on  these  things. 

And,  first,  in  the  quality  of  Christ's  manhood 
we  may  see  the  perfect  man,  the  revelation  of 
what  man  is  in  God's  idea  of  him,  of  what  the 
Creator  intended  him  to  be. 

And  what  is  the  quality  of  Jesus'  manhood  ? 
There  is  no  other  word  to  express  it  except  the 
great  word  perfection.  Sin  ?  We  cannot  think 
of  it  in  connection  with  Him.     Those  who  com- 


THE  REVELATION  OF  MAN  13 

panied  with  Him  testify  that  He  was  "without 
blemish  and  without  spot";  that  "  He  did  no  sin, 
neither  was  guile  found  in  His  mouth."  The 
author  of  our  epistle  declares  that  He  was  "  sepa- 
rate from  sinners,"  that  He  was,  in  the  midst  of 
temptation,  "  without  sin."  The  story  of  His  life 
and  sayings  leaves  us  without  trace  of  acknowl- 
edgment of  fault  on  His  own  part,  without 
betrayal  of  consciousness  of  unworthiness,  with- 
out the  slightest  hint  of  inner  conflict  with  sinful 
impulses. 

And  if  the  quality  of  His  excellence  is  too 
positive  to  permit  us  even  to  speak  of  sin  in 
connection  with  it,  it  is  equally  too  universal  to 
admit  of  adequate  characterization.  The  excel- 
lences of  the  best  of  men  may  usually  be  con- 
densed in  a  single  outstanding  virtue  or  grace 
by  which  each  is  peculiarly  marked.  Thus  we 
speak  of  the  faith  of  Abraham,  the  meekness  of 
Moses,  the  patience  of  Job,  the  boldness  of 
Elijah,  the  love  of  John.  The  perfection  of  Jesus 
defies  such  particularizing  characterization.  All 
the  beauties  of  character  which  exhibit  themselves 
singly  in  the  world's  saints  and  heroes,  assemble 
in  Him,  each  in  its  perfection  and  all  in  perfect 
balance  and  harmonious  combination.  If  we 
ask  what  manner  of  man  He  was,  we  can  only 


14     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

respond,  No  manner  of  man,  but  rather,  by  way 
of  eminence,  the  man,  the  only  perfect  man  that 
ever  existed  on  earth,  to  whom  gathered  all 
the  perfections  proper  to  man  and  possible  for 
man,  that  they  might  find  a  fitting  home  in  His 
heart  and  that  they  might  play  brightly  about 
His  person.  If  you  would  know  what  man  is, 
in  the  height  of  His  divine  idea,  look  at  Jesus 
Christ. 

Is  it  not  well  for  the  world  once  to  have  seen 
such  a  man  ?  How  easy  it  is  to  accuse  nature 
of  our  faults,  to  confront  God  with  what  we  have 
wrought,  and  to  seek  to  roll  upon  our  Creator 
the  responsibility  for  the  creatures  which  our  own 
deeds  have  made  us.  How  easy  to  look  upon 
corruption  as  the  inevitable  incident  of  existence 
for  such  beings  as  men ;  and  to  speak  of  sin  as 
only  the  mark  of  our  humanity.  How  easily  a 
cynical  temper  waxes  within  us  as  we  mix  with 
men  in  the  world's  marts  and  tread  with  them 
the  devious  paths  of  life.  We  mark  their  ways 
and  ask,  waiting,  like  Pilate,  for  no  answer,  Who 
shall  show  us  any  good  ?  How  easily  our  ideals 
themselves  sink  to  what  we  fancy  the  level  of 
human  powers.  We  note  the  aims  of  those  who 
strive  about  us.  We  note  the  aims  of  the  great 
figures  which  flit  across   the   pages   of   history, 


THE  REVELATION  OF  MAN  15 

commanding  the  acclamation  of  all  the  ages. 
We  look  within  at  the  seething  caldron  of  pas- 
sions and  impulses  of  our  own  souls.  Do  not 
all  these  voices  call  us  to  one  natural,  one  una- 
voidable issue  ?  If  in  the  far  distance  we  faintly 
discover  hanging  above  us  the  beckoning  glim- 
mer of  some  star  of  heaven — what  is  poor  wing- 
less man,  that  he  should  hope  to  rise  to  grasp  it  ? 
Is  it  not  the  part  of  wisdom,  as  well  as  the 
demand  of  nature,  that  worms  shall  crawl  ?  Is 
it  not  folly  unspeakable  for  such  as  we  to  attempt 
to  mount  the  skies  ?  But  we  see  Jesus,  and  the 
scales  fall  from  our  eyes ;  in  Him  we  perceive 
what  man  is  in  his  idea,  and  what  it  may  be  well 
for  him  to  seek  to  become. 

The  man  Jesus  stands  before  us  as  the  revela- 
tion of  man's  native  dignity,  capacities,  and 
powers.  He  exhibits  to  us  what  man  is  in  the 
idea  of  his  Maker.  He  uncovers  to  our  view,  in 
their  perfection  and  strength,  those  quahties  and 
forces  of  good,  the  ruins  of  which  only  we  may 
see  in  our  fellow-men,  and  enables  us  to  admire, 
honor,  love,  and  hope  for  them,  because  they  still 
possess  such  qualities  and  capacities  though  in 
ruins.  To  look  upon  Him  is  to  ennoble  and  ele- 
vate our  ideals  of  life ;  the  sight  of  Him  forbids 
us  to  forget  our  higher  nature  and  higher  aspira- 


1 6  THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

tions;  It  quickens  in  us  our  dead  longings  to  be 
like  Him,  men  after  God's  plan  and  heart,  rather 
than  after  our  own  corrupt  impulses.  It  is  well 
for  the  world  once  to  have  seen  such  a  man. 

Once  and  once  only.  Ah,  there  is  the  pity  of 
it,  and  there  is  the  despair  of  it !  In  no  other  than 
in  Him  has  the  ideal  ever  been  realized.  And 
the  more  we  look  upon  His  perfections  the  more 
we  perceive,  as  in  no  other  light,  how  far  short  of 
the  ideal  man  have  been  our  highest  imagina- 
tions. For  we  need  to  note,  secondly,  that  in 
the  light  of  Jesus'  perfect  manhood  we  have,  by 
contrast,  revealed  to  us  what  man  is  in  his  sin 
and  depravity,  what  he  has  made  himself  in  his 
rebellion  from  good  and  from  God. 

The  Greeks  had  a  proverb :  "  By  the  straight 
is  judged  both  the  straight  and  the  crooked;  the 
rule  is  singly  the  test  of  both."  And  so  it  is. 
Wherever  the  straight  is  brought  to  light,  there 
inevitably  is  also  the  crookedness  of  the  crooked 
made  visible.  Let  the  builder  hang  his  plumb- 
line,  with  whatever  careless  intent,  over  any  wall ; 
and  if  the  wall  be  not  straight,  every  wayfarer  may 
perceive  it.  Let  the  carpenter  lay  his  straight- 
edge alongside  of  any  board,  and  every  crook  and 
bend  is  brought  to  the  instant  observation  of  all. 


THE  REVELATION  OF  MAN  17 

This  is  what  is  meant  when  the  Scriptures  tell 
us  that  by  the  law  is  the  knowledge  of  sin.  For 
the  law  is  for  moral  things  what  the  plumb-line 
and  the  straight-edge  are  for  physical  things :  it  is 
the  rule  by  which  our  hearts  are  measured  and  in 
the  presence  of  which  what  we  really  are  is  made 
manifest.  We  may  sin  and  scarcely  know  we  sin, 
until  the  straight-edge  of  the  law  is  brought 
against  us.  Oh,  how  we  fall  away  from  its  line  of 
rectitude ! 

Now,  our  blessed  Saviour,  as  the  perfect 
one,  full  of  righteousness  and  holiness,  is  the 
embodiment  of  the  law  in  hfe.  And  more  per- 
fectly and  vividly  than  any  law — though  that 
law  be  holy  and  just  and  good — does  His  pres- 
ence among  men  measure  men  and  reveal  what 
men  are.  The  presence  of  any  good  man  in 
our  midst  acts,  in  its  due  proportion,  as  such  a 
measure.  And,  therefore,  from  the  beginning  of 
the  world  men  have  been  stung  by  the  presence 
of  a  good  man  among  them  to  hatred  of  him,  and 
have  evilly  entreated  and  persecuted  him.  He  is 
a  standing  accusation  of  their  sins.  "There  is  cer- 
tainly," says  Miss  Yonge  in  The  Heir  of  Rcdcliffe 
— that  uplifting  story  which  has  been  such  a  factor 
in  the  lives  of  such  men  as  Mr.  William  Morris 
and  Dr.  A.  Kuyper — "  there  is  certainly  a  *  tyran- 


1 8  THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

nous  hate*  in  the  world  for  unusual  goodness, 
which  is  a  rebuke  to  it."  But  no  man  ever  so 
feels  his  utter  depravity  as  when  he  thinks  of  him- 
self as  standing  by  the  side  of  Jesus.  In  this 
presence,  even  what  we  had  fondly  looked  upon 
as  our  virtues  hide  their  faces  in  shame  and  cry, 
Depart  from  us,  for  we  are  sinful  in  thy  sight,  O 
Lord. 

Lay  open  the  narrative  in  these  gospels,  of 
how  the  Son  of  man  went  about  among  men,  in 
the  days  of  His  sojourn  here  below.  Note  on  the 
one  hand  the  ever-growing  glory  of  that  revela- 
tion of  a  perfect  life.  And  note  on  the  other  hand 
the  ever-increasing  horror  of  the  accompanying 
revelation  of  human  weakness  and  human  de- 
pravity. It  could  not  be  otherwise.  When  we 
see  Jesus,  it  must  be  in  the  brightness  of  His 
unapproachable  splendor  that  we  see  those  about 
Him :  as  it  is  in  the  light  of  the  sun  that  we  see 
the  forms  and  colors  and  characters  of  all  ob- 
jects on  which  it  turns  its  beams.  Especially 
when  we  see  Him  in  conflict  with  His  enemies, 
as  we  cannot  avoid  being  moved  with  amazement 
by  the  spectacle  of  His  utter  perfection ;  so  must 
we,  in  that  light,  be  shocked  by  the  spectacle 
of  the  utter  depravity  of  men.  Men  are  revealed 
in  this  presence  in  their  true,  their  fundamental 


THE  REVELATION  OF  MAN  19 

tones    of   nature   with   a    vivid    completeness   in 
which  they  are  never  seen  elsewhere. 

Now,  such  a  crisis  as  this,  Jesus  is  bringing  into 
the  life  of  every  man  upon  whom  the  light  of  His 
knowledge  shines.  No  man  can  escape  the  test. 
Christ  Jesus  has  come  into  the  world  and  He  con- 
fronts every  one  with  the  spectacle  of  His  perfect 
humanity.  When  men  are  least  thinking  of  Him, 
lo !  there  He  is  by  their  side.  Every  time  His 
name  is  mentioned  in  the  assemblies  of  men, 
every  time  His  image  rises  in  a  brooding  human 
heart,  the  crisis  comes  again  to  human  souls. 
They  may  not  realize  it;  they  may  prefer  other- 
wise; they  may  determine  otherwise.  But  they 
are  being  tried  and  tested  against  their  wills  every 
moment  they  live  in  His  presence.  Some,  like 
the  priests,  burn  with  rage  at  every  thought  of 
the  supreme  claim  He  makes  upon  their  homage, 
and  refuse  with  all  violence  to  have  this  man  to 
rule  over  them.  Others,  like  Pilate,  yield  a  lan- 
guid and  chill  recognition  to  His  goodness  and 
worth,  yet  choose  the  pursuit  of  pleasure  or  gain 
above  the  service  of  Him.  Others,  like  the  mob, 
may  in  easy  indifference  prefer  some  other  leader, 
though  he  be  a  robber  and  a  murderer.  Thus  a 
crisis  is  brought  by  His  presence  to  every  heart ; 
and  a  revelation  of  man  in  his  true  depravity  is 


20     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

the  result.  As  He  moves  through  the  world  the 
whole  race  lies  at  His  feet  self-condemned.  We 
shudder  as,  in  the  light  of  His  brightness,  we  see 
man  as  he  is. 

Yet  we  have  the  word  of  Jesus  Himself  for  it 
that  God  sent  not  His  Son  into  the  world  to  con- 
demn the  world,  but  that  the  world  through  Him 
might  be  saved.  Let  us  turn  our  eyes  away, 
then,  from  the  terrible  spectacle  of  a  race  revealed 
in  its  sin  to  observe,  in  the  third  place,  that  in  the 
perfection  of  Christ's  manhood  we  have  the  reve- 
lation of  what  man  may  become  by  the  redemp- 
tion of  the  Son  of  God  and  the  sanctification  of 
the  Spirit. 

We  observe  that  the  element  of  promise  is 
made  very  prominent  in  the  text  and  in  the  wider 
passage  of  which  the  text  is  a  part.  Mark  those 
words  of  hope,  "  Not  yet."  "  We  see  not  yet  all 
things  subjected  to  him."  The  psalmist's  ascrip- 
tion is  then  yet  to  be  fulfilled  in  man  himself  In 
Jesus'  dominion,  and  in  Jesus*  perfection,  we  are 
to  see  only  the  earnest  and  the  pledge.  When 
He  entered  through  sufferings  into  glory,  it  was  in 
the  process  of  bringing  many  sons  unto  glory.  If 
He  is  the  sanctifier,  they  are  the  sanctified ;  and 
He  is  not  ashamed  to  call  them  brethren.     If  He 


THE  REVELATION  OF  MAN  21 

became  like  them  in  order  that  He  might  die  in 
their  behalf;  this  death  was  to  be  accomplished  in 
order  that  He  might,  by  making  propitiation  for 
their  sins,  deliver  them  from  their  bondage.  In  a 
word,  we  are  to  look  upon  Jesus  in  His  perfect 
manhood  as  our  forerunner.  In  His  perfection 
we  are  to  see  the  revelation  of  what  we  too  shall 
be  when  He  shall  have  perfected  His  work  in  us 
as  He  has  already  perfected  it  for  us. 

Let  us  bless  God  for  these  precious  assurances. 
Without  them  the  sight  of  Jesus  could  but  bring 
us  despair.  Men  speak  of  Him,  indeed,  as  our 
example ;  and  we  praise  God  that  He  has  given 
us  such  an  example — we  bless  His  holy  name 
that  He  has  permitted  the  world  to  see  one  such 
man.  But  if  He  were  only  our  example,  as  we 
looked  upon  Him  and  saw  His  perfection  and  by 
contrast  saw  our  depravity,  who  would  not  cry 
that  this  example  is  too  high,  we  cannot  attain 
unto  it ! 

I  fear  we  do  not  always  consider  with  what 
limitations  mere  example  is  hedged  about.  Limi- 
tations of  space.  How  narrow  a  circle  can  really 
feel  the  uplift  of  even  the  most  moving  personal 
example.  At  the  best,  only  those  who  cluster 
most  nearly  round  the  figure  of  a  good  man, 
however  impressive,  can  be  much  affected  by  his 


22     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

example.  Limitations  of  time.  How  soon  the 
force  of  the  mightiest  personaHty  is  drowned  in 
the  stream  of  the  years.  As  the  flood  of  days 
falls  over  it  how  rapidly  it  becomes  at  best  a  story 
— an  empty  name.  Could  Jesus  have  declared 
that  it  was  expedient  for  Him  to  go  away,  if  it 
were  only  or  chiefly  as  an  example  that  He  came 
into  the  world  ?  Would  not  it  have  been  rather 
expedient  that  He  should  have  lived  through  all 
the  ages,  and  kept  His  living  example  as  a  living 
force  before  the  eyes  of  men  for  all  time  and  in 
every  land?  Limitations  of  power.  The  most 
inspiring  example  cannot  change  the  heart,  cannot 
impart  new  life  to  a  dead  soul.  At  best  it  can  but 
deflect  the  direction  of  powers  already  existent 
and  operative.  We  thank  God  that  Christ  is  our 
example,  that  we  see  in  Him  all  that  we  fain  would 
be.  But  we  thank  Him  that  He  is  much  more 
than  our  example  ;  that  He  is  our  life  as  well. 
It  is  only  because  He  is  our  life,  that  as  our  ex- 
ample He  can  be  our  hope  and  joy. 

With  Him  as  only  our  example  we  could  see 
in  His  perfect  manhood  only  what  we  ought  to  be, 
ought  but  cannot.  Hopeless  gloom  would  inevi- 
tably settle  upon  our  souls.  With  Him  as  our  life, 
who  has  died  for  our  sins  and  purchased  the  sanc- 
tifying Spirit  for  us,  we  see  in  His  perfect  man- 


THE  REVELATION  OF  MAN  23 

hood  what  we  are  to  be.  Do  we  peer  into  that 
mysterious  future,  with  doubt  if  not  dismay  ?  We 
have  the  precious  assurance  based  upon  His  per- 
fected work  of  propitiation  and  purchase:  "Be- 
loved, now  are  we  children  of  God,  and  it  is  not  yet 
made  manifest  what  we  shall  be.  We  know  that, 
if  He  shall  be  manifested,  we  shall  be  like  Him." 
"  We  shall  be  like  Him."  Our  hearts  take  cour- 
age, and  we  rest  on  this  word.  We  shall  be  like 
Him!  "We  all  remember,"  says  Bishop  Gore, 
"  the  pathetic  words  of  Simmias  in  the  argument 
with  Socrates  about  the  immortality  of  the  soul. 
*  I  dare  say,'  he  says,  *  that  you,  Socrates,  feel  as  I 
do,  how  very  hard  and  almost  impossible  is  the 
attainment  of  any  certainty  about  questions  such 
as  these  in  the  present  life.  And  yet  I  should 
deem  him  a  coward  who  did  not  prove  what  is 
said  about  them  to  the  uttermost,  or  whose  heart 
failed  him  before  he  had  examined  them  on  every 
side.  For  he  should  persevere  until  he  has  ascer- 
tained one  of  two  things :  either  he  should  dis- 
cover and  learn  the  truth  about  them ;  or,  if  this 
is  impossible,  I  would  have  him  take  the  best  and 
most  irrefragable  of  human  notions,  and  let  this 
be  the  raft  on  which  he  sails  through  life — not 
without  risk,  as  I  admit,  if  he  cannot  find  some 
word  of  God  which  will  more  surely  and  safely 


24     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

carry  him.'  '  Some  word  of  God ' :  it  has  come 
to  us;  crowning  the  legitimate  efforts,  supplying 
the  inevitable  deficiencies  of  human  reasoning ; 
satisfying  all  the  deepest  aspirations  of  the  heart 
and  conscience.  It  has  come  to  us,  and  not  as  a 
mere  spoken  message,  but  as  an  incarnate  person, 
at  first  to  attract,  to  alarm,  to  subdue  us ;  after- 
wards, when  we  are  His  servants,  to  guide,  to 
discipline,  to  enlighten,  to  enrich  us,  till  that  which 
is  perfect  is  come,  and  that  which  is  in  part  shall 
be  done  away."  Aye,  this  is  it  which  meets 
every  longing  of  our  hearts.  We  shall  be  like 
Him  when  we  see  Him  as  He  is. 

Oh,  toil-worn  pilgrim,  weaiy  with  your  burden, 
would  you  know  the  glory  in  store  for  you  ? 
Look  at  Jesus  :  you  shall  be  like  Him.  Are  you 
tempted  to  despair?  Do  you  shrink  from  an 
endless  future  in  which  you  shall  remain  for  ever 
yourself?  Look  at  Jesus :  not  as  you  are,  but 
like  what  He  is,  you  are  to  be.  If  we  can  but 
attain  to  such  a  hope,  heaven  bursts  at  once  upon 
our  souls.  To  be  like  Jesus  !  Is  this  not  a  glory, 
in  the  presence  of  which  all  other  glories  fade 
away  by  reason  of  the  glory  that  is  surpassing  ? 
When  we  look  at  Jesus,  we  may  not — we  cannot 
afford   to — forget   that   we   are   looking   at   that 


THE  REVELATION  OF  MAN  25 

which,  by  the  grace  of  God,  we  may  and  shall 
become. 

And  you,  in  whose  veins  the  pulses  of  youth 
are  still  beating,  whose  hearts  are  high  as  you 
look  out  upon  the  still  untrodden  fields  of  life — 
fields  which  you  doubt  not  you  are  to  subdue — 
you,  all  of  you,  no  doubt,  have  your  ideals  and 
your  heroes.  Some  figure  rises  before  your  eyes, 
now  as  I  speak  to  you,  whom  you  would  fain  be 
like — a  soldier,  a  thinker,  some  master  of  assem- 
blies, some  leader  of  men,  some  lord  of  finance. 
Or,  perhaps,  your  gentler  blood  throbs  with 
exhilarated  longing  as  you  fancy  yourself  repeat- 
ing in  your  own  life  the  strivings  or  the  accom- 
plishments of  some  noble  woman  of  history  or 
of  romance — some  high-minded  Hypatia,  some 
patient  Griselda,  some  devoted  Saint  Catharine — 
a  Florence  Nightingale,  an  Elizabeth  Fry,  a  Dora 
Pattison,  a  Frances  Havergal.  What  would  it  be 
to  you  to  have  an  angel  visitant  stand  suddenly 
by  your  side — as  long  ago  there  stood  suddenly 
by  Mary,  most  blessed  of  women,  one  with  the 
greeting  on  his  lips  of  "  Hail  Mary !  thou  that 
art  highly  favored!" — and  say,  "Your  wish  is 
granted ;  this — all  this — you  shall  be !"  Are  we 
so  blind  that  we  do  not  see  that  this,  and  more, 
is  just  what  has  come  to  us?     All  these  heroes 


26     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

of  our  hearts,  great  and  inspiring  as  they  are,  are 
but  men  and  women  hke  ourselves,  touched  with 
our  faults,  our  failings,  our  sins.  Partial  and 
incomplete,  alike  in  themselves  and  in  their 
accomplishments,  they  can  provide  us  with  but 
stepping-stones  to  higher  things.  The  one  per- 
fect man,  the  one  perfect  model  of  life,  stands 
before  us  in  Christ  Jesus.  And  the  voice  comes 
to  us — not  the  voice  of  an  angel  only,  but  God's 
own  voice  of  power — proclaiming,  Ye  shall  be 
like  Him ! 

Could  there  be  another  proclamation  of  equal 
encouragement,  of  equal  strengthening?  Up, 
brethren,  let  us  take  Him,  the  perfect  One,  for 
our  model ;  let  us  nurse  our  longing  to  be  like 
Him;  and  let  us  go  forth  to  the  work  of  life 
buoyant  with  the  joy  of  this  greatest  of  hopes, 
this  most  precious  of  assurances — We  shall  be 
like  Him ;  what  He  is,  that  shall  we  also  become ! 
In  the  strength  of  this  great  hope  let  us  live  our 
life  out  here  below,  and  in  its  joyful  assurance  let 
us,  when  our  time  comes  to  go,  enter  eagerly  into 
our  glory. 


II 

THE  SAVING  CHRIST 


II 

THE  SAVING  CHRIST 

"Faithful  is  the  saying,  and  worthy  of  all  acceptation,  that 
Christ  Jesus  came  into  the  world  to  save  sinners."— i  Tim.  i.  15. 
(R.  V.) 

In  these  words  we  have  the  first  of  a  short 
series  of  five  "  faithful  sayings,"  or  current  Chris- 
tian commonplaces,  incidentally  adduced  by  the 
apostle  Paul  in  the  course  of  his  letters  to  his 
helpers  in  the  gospel — Timothy  and  Titus — i.  e., 
in  what  we  commonly  call  his  Pastoral  Epistles. 
They  are  a  remarkable  series  of  five  "words," 
and  their  appearance  on  the  face  of  these  New 
Testament  writings  is  almost  as  remarkable  as 
their  contents. 

Consider  what  the  phenomenon  is  that  is 
brought  before  us  in  these  "faithful  sayings." 
Here  is  the  apostle  writing  to  his  assistants  in  the 
proclamation  of  the  gospel,  little  more  than  a  third 
of  a  century,  say,  after  the  crucifixion  of  his  Lord 
— scarcely  thirty-three  years  after  he  had  himself 
entered  upon  the  great  ministry  that  had  been 
committed  to  him  of  preaching  to  the  Gentiles 

29 


30  THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

the  words  of  this  Hfe.  Yet  he  is  already  able  to 
remind  them  of  the  blessed  contents  of  the  gos- 
pel message  in  words  that  are  the  product  of 
Christian  experience  in  the  hearts  of  the  com- 
munity. For  just  what  these  " faithful  sayings" 
are,  is  a  body  of  utterances  in  which  the  essence 
of  the  gospel  has  been  crystallized  by  those  who 
have  tasted  and  seen  its  preciousness.  Obviously 
the  days  when  this  gospel  was  brought  as  a  nov- 
elty to  their  attention  are  past.  The  church  has 
been  founded,  and  in  it  throbs  the  pulses  of  a 
vigorous  life.  The  gospel  has  been  embraced  and 
lived ;  it  has  been  trusted  and  not  found  wanting ; 
and  the  souls  that  have  found  its  blessedness 
have  had  time  to  frame  its  precious  truths  into 
formulas.  Formulas,  I  do  not  say,  merely,  that 
have  passed  from  mouth  to  mouth,  and  been  en- 
shrined in  memory  after  memory  until  they  have 
become  proverbs  in  the  Christian  community. 
Formulas  rather,  which  have  embedded  them- 
selves in  the  hearts  of  the  whole  congregation, 
have  been  beaten  there  into  shape,  as  the  deeper 
emotions  of  redeemed  souls  have  played  round 
them,  and  have  emerged  again  suffused  with  the 
feelings  which  they  have  awakened  and  satisfied, 
and  molded  into  that  balanced  and  rhythmic  form 
which  is  the  hallmark  of  utterances  that  come 


THE  SAVING  CHRIST  31 

really  out  of  the  living  and  throbbing  hearts  of 
the  people. 

If  we  were  to  judge  of  the  spiritual  attainments 
of  the  primitive  Church  solely  by  these  specimens 
of  its  Christian  thought,  we  should  assuredly  con- 
ceive exceedingly  highly  of  them.  Where  can  we 
go  to  find  a  truer  or  deeper  insight  into  the  heart 
of  the  gospel — a  richer  or  fuller  expression  of  all 
that  the  religious  life  at  its  highest  turns  upon  ? 
Certainly  not  to  the  apocryphal  fragments  of 
so-called  "  utterances  of  Jesus  "  raked  out  of  the 
trash-heaps  of  some  Oxyrhynchus  or  other.  But 
just  as  truly  not  to  the  authentic  remains  of 
the  early  ages  of  the  Church ;  which  witness, 
indeed,  to  a  living,  vitalizing  Christianity  ordering 
all  its  life,  but  which  distinctly  reach  to  no  such 
level  of  Christian  thinking  and  feehng  as  these 
fragments  point  to.  We  are  thus  bidden  to  re- 
member that  in  these  five  "  sayings  "  we  have,  not 
the  total  product  of  the  Christian  thought  of  the 
age,  perhaps  not  even  a  fair  sample  of  it,  but  such 
items  of  it  only  as  commended  themselves  to  the 
mind  and  heart  of  a  Paul,  and  rose  joyously  to 
his  lips  when  he  would  fain  exhort  his  fellows  in 
the  gospel  to  embrace  and  live  by  its  essence. 
They  come  to  us  accordingly  not  merely  as  valu- 
able fragments  of  the  Christian  thinking  of  the 


32     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

first  period — of  absorbing  interest  as  they  would 
be  even  from  that  point  of  view — but  with  the 
imprimatur  of  the  apostle  upon  them  as  consonant 
with  the  mind  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  They  are  dug 
from  the  mine  of  the  Christian  heart  indeed,  but 
they  come  to  us  stamped  in  the  mintage  of  apos- 
tolic authority.  The  primitive  Christian  commu- 
nity it  may  have  been  that  gave  them  form  and 
substance,  but  it  is  the  apostle  who  assures  us 
that  they  are  "  faithful  sayings,  and  worthy  of  all 
acceptation." 

And  surely,  when  we  come  to  look  narrowly  at 
the  particular  one  of  these  "  sayings  "  which  we 
have  chosen  as  our  text,  it  is  a  great  assertion 
that  it  brings  us — an  assertion  which,  if  it  be  truly 
a  "  faithful  saying,  and  worthy  of  all  acceptation," 
is  well  adapted  to  become  even  in  this  late  and,  it 
would  fain  believe  itself,  more  instructed  age,  the 
watchword  of  the  Christian  Church  and  of  every 
Christian  heart.  On  the  face  of  it,  you  will  ob- 
serve, it  simply  announces  the  purpose  or,  we 
may  perhaps  say,  the  philosophy,  of  the  incarna- 
tion :  "  This  is  a  faithful  saying,  and  worthy  of  all 
acceptation,  that  Christ  Jesus  came  into  the  world 
to  save  sinners."  But  it  announces  the  purpose  of 
the  incarnation  in  a  manner  that  at  once  attracts 
attention.     Even  the  very  language  in  which  it  is 


THE  SAVING  CHRIST  33 

expressed  is  startling,  meeting  us  here  in  the 
midst  of  one  of  Paul's  letters.  For  this  is  not 
Pauline  phraseology  that  stands  before  us  here ; 
as,  indeed,  it  professes  not  to  be — for  does  not 
Paul  tell  us  that  he  is  not  speaking  in  his  own 
person,  but  is  adducing  one  of  the  jewels  of  the 
Church's  faith  ?  At  all  events,  it  is  the  language 
of  John  that  here  confronts  us,  and  whoever  first 
cast  the  Church's  heart-conviction  into  this  com- 
pressed sentence  had  assuredly  learned  in  John's 
school.  For  to  John  only  belongs  this  phrase  as 
applied  to  Christ :  "  He  came  into  the  world."  It 
is  John  only  who  preserves  the  Master's  declara- 
tions :  "  I  came  forth  from  the  Father,  and  am 
come  into  the  world  " ;  "I  am  come  a  light  into 
the  world,  that  whosoever  believeth  on  Me  should 
not  abide  in  darkness."  It  is  he  only  who,  adopt- 
ing, as  is  his  wont,  the  very  phraseology  of  his 
Master  to  express  his  own  thought,  tells  us  in  his 
prologue  that  "the  true  Light — that  lighteth 
every  man — was  coming  into  the  world,"  but 
though  He  was  in  the  world,  and  the  world  was 
made  by  Him,  yet  the  world  knew  Him  not. 

Hence    emerges   a   useful    hint   for   the   inter- 
pretation of  our  passage.     For  in  the  Johannean 
phraseology   which   we    have    before    us    here — 
though  certainly  not  in   the  Johannean  phrase- 
3 


34     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

ology  only — the  term  "  the  world  "  does  not  ex- 
press a  purely  local  idea,  but  is  suffused  with  a 
deep  ethical  significance.  When  we  read  accord- 
ingly of  Christ  Jesus  coming  into  the  "  world,"  we 
are  not  reading  of  a  mere  change  of  place  on  the 
part  of  our  Lord — of  a  mere  descent  on  His  part 
from  heaven  to  earth,  as  we  may  say.  We  are 
reading  of  the  light  coming  into  the  darkness: 
"  the  world  "  is  the  sphere  of  darkness  and  shame 
and  sin.  It  is,  in  a  word,  the  great  ethical  con- 
trast that  is  intended  to  be  brought  prominently 
before  us,  and  in  this  lies  the  whole  point  of 
the  incarnation  as  conceived  by  John,  and  as  em- 
bodied in  our  passage.  Jesus  Christ,  the  Lord 
of  glory,  came  into  "  the  world  " — into  the  realm 
of  evil  and  the  kingdom  of  sin.  In  our  present 
passage  this  idea  is  enhanced  by  the  sharp  collo- 
cation with  it  of  the  term  "  sinners."  For,  in  the 
original,  the  word  "  sinners  "  stands  next  to  the 
word  "world,"  with  the  effect  of  throwing  the 
strongest  possible  emphasis  on  the  ethical  conno- 
tation. This  is  the  faithful  saying,  and  worthy  of 
all  acceptation,  that  the  apostle  commends  to  us 
— that  "  Christ  Jesus  came  into  the  ivorld,  sinners 
to  save."  What  else,  indeed,  could  He  have 
come  into  "  the  world,"  the  sphere  of  evil,  for — • 
except  to  save  sinners  ? 


THE  SAVING  CHRIST  35 

Surely,  there  meets  us  here  a  point  that  is 
worthy  of  our  closest  attention.  We  might  have 
heard  of  Christ  coming  into  the  world,  if  the 
term  could  be  taken  in  a  merely  local  sense,  with 
but  a  languid  interest.  But  when  we  catch  the 
ethical  import  of  the  term  an  explanation  is  at 
once  demanded.  What  could  such  an  one  as 
Christ  have  to  do  in  coming  to  such  a  place  as 
the  world  ?  The  incongruity  of  the  thing 
requires  accounting  for.  It  is  much  as  if  we  saw 
a  fellow  Christian  in  some  compromising  posi- 
tion. We  might  meet  with  him  here,  there,  and 
elsewhere,  and  no  remark  be  aroused.  But  by 
some  chance  swing  of  the  shutter  as  we  pass  by 
we  see  him  standing  in  the  midst  of  a  drinking- 
saloon ;  we  see  him  emerge  from  the  door  of  a 
well-known  gambling  hell,  or  of  some  dreadful 
abode  of  shame.  At  once  the  need  of  an  explana- 
tion rises  within  our  puzzled  minds,  and  the  whole 
stress  of  the  situation  turns  on  the  explanation. 
What  was  his  purpose  there?  we  anxiously  inquire. 
So  it  is  with  Christ  Jesus  coming  into  the  world ; 
and  so  we  feel  in  proportion  as  we  realize  the 
ethical  contrariety  suggested  by  the  term.  Thus 
it  comes  about  that  the  primary  emphasis  of  the 
passage  is  felt  to  rest  on  the  account  it  gives  of 
the  situation  it  brings  before  us — on  its  explana- 


36  THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

tion  of  how  it  happens  that  Christ  Jesus  could 
and  did  come  into  the  world. 

We  despair  of  finding  an  English  phraseology 
which  will  reproduce  with  exactitude  the  nice  dis- 
tribution of  the  stress.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  the 
strong  emphasis  falls  on  the  fact  that  it  was  spe- 
cifically to  save  sinners  that  Christ  Jesus  came, 
and  that  the  way  for  this  strength  of  emphasis  is 
prepared  by  the  use  of  phraseology  which 
implies  that  there  was  no  other  conceivable  end 
that  He  could  have  had  in  view  in  coming  into 
such  a  place  as  the  world  except  to  deal  with 
sinners,  of  which  the  world  consists.  He  might 
indeed  have  come  to  judge  the  world;  and  in 
contrast  with  that  the  emphasis  falls  on  the  word 
"  to  save^  But  He  could  not  conceivably,  being 
what  He  was,  the  Holy  One  and  the  Just,  have 
come  to  such  a  place  as  the  world  is — the  seat 
of  shame  and  evil — save  to  deal  with  sinners. 
The  essence  of  the  whole  declaration,  therefore, 
is  found  in  the  joyful  cry  that  it  was  specifically 
to  save  sinners  that  Christ  Jesus  came  into  this 
world  of  evil.  And  if  that  be  true — simply  true, 
broadly  true,  true  just  as  it  stands,  and  in  all  the 
reach  of  its  meaning — why,  then,  from  that  alone 
we  may  learn  what  man  is  and  what  God  is — 
what  Christ  Jesus  is  and  His  work  in  this  world 


THE  SAVING  CHRIST  37 

of  ours — what  hopes  may  illumine  our  darkness 
here  below,  and  what  joys  shall  be  ours  when 
this  darkness  passes  away. 

It  would  naturally  be  impossible  for  us  to  dip 
out  all  the  fullness  of  such  a  great  declaration  in 
a  half-hour's  meditation.  It  will  be  profitable 
for  us,  accordingly,  to  confine  ourselves  to  bring- 
ing as  clearly  before  us  as  may  prove  to  be  prac- 
ticable two  or  three  of  its  main  implications. 
And  may  God  the  Holy  Spirit  help  us  to  read  it 
aright  and  to  apply  its  lessons  to  our  souls'  wel- 
fare ! 

First  of  all,  then,  let  us  observe  that  this  "faith- 
ful saying"  takes  us  back  into  the  counsels  of  eter- 
nity and  reveals  to  us  the  ground,  in  the  decree 
of  God,  for  the  gift  of  His  Son  to  the  world,  and 
the  end  sought  to  be  obtained  by  His  entrance 
into  the  likeness  of  sinful  flesh.  "  Faithful  is  the 
saying,"  says  the  apostle,  "  and  worthy  of  all 
acceptation,  that  Christ  Jesus  came  into  the  world 
in  order  to  save  sinners!'  That  is  to  say,  the 
occasion  of  the  incarnation  is  rooted  in  sin,  and 
the  end  of  it  is  found  in  salvation  from  sin.  And 
that  is  to  say  again,  translating  these  facts  into 
the  terms  of  the  decree,  that  the  determination 
of  God  to  send  His  Son  and  the  determination 


38     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

of  the  Son  to  come  into  the  world  are  grounded, 
in  the  counsel  of  God,  on  the  contemplated  fact 
of  sin,  and  have  as  their  design  to  provide  a 
remedy  for  sin. 

This,  it  need  hardly  be  said,  is  in  accordance 
with  the  uniform  representation  of  Scripture. 
Scripture  always  speaks  of  the  incarnation  as  the 
hinge  of  a  great  remedial  scheme.  Our  Lord 
Himself,  in  language  closely  parallel  to  that  be- 
before  us,  says,  **  The  Son  of  man  is  come  to  seek 
and  to  save  that  which  was  lost."  And  everywhere 
in  Scripture  the  incarnation  is  conceived  distinctly, 
if  we  may  be  permitted  the  use  of  these  technical 
terms,  soteriologically  rather  than  ontologically, 
or  even  cosmologically.  Under  the  guidance  of 
Scripture,  and  preeminently  of  our  present  pas- 
sage, therefore,  we  must  needs  deny  that  the 
proximate  account  of  the  incarnation  is  to  be 
sought  either  ontologically  or  ethically  in  God, 
or  in  the  nature  of  the  Logos,  or  in  the  idea  of 
creation,  or  in  the  character  of  man  as  created; 
and  affirm  that  it  is  to  be  found  only  in  the  needy 
condition  of  man  as  a  sinner  before  the  face  of  a 
holy  and  loving  God. 

The  incarnation,  to  be  sure,  is  so  stupendous 
an  event  that  it  is  big  with  consequences,  and 
reaches  out  on  every  side  to  relations  that  may 


THE  SAVING  CHRIST  39 

seem  at  first  glance  even  to  stand  in  opposition  to 
its  fundamental  principle.  It  is  certainly  true  that 
all  that  is,  is  the  product  of  God's  power,  and,  as 
coming  from  Him,  has  somewhat  of  God  in  it 
and  may  be  envisaged  by  us  as  a  vehicle  of  the 
Divine.  And  surely  it  is  only  true  that  He  has 
imprinted  Himself  on  the  works  of  His  hands ; 
and  that,  as  the  Author  of  all.  He  will  not  be 
content  with  the  product  of  His  power  until  it 
has  been  made  to  body  forth  all  His  perfections ; 
and  it  cannot  be  wrong  to  say  that  so  far  as  we 
can  see  it  is  only  in  an  incarnation  that  He  could 
manifest  Himself  perfectly  to  His  creatures.  A 
similar  remark  will  apply  naturally  at  once  also 
to  the  Logos  as  the  Revealer,  who  must  be  sup- 
posed to  desire  to  make  known  to  man  all  that 
God  is,  and  preeminently  His  love,  which 
undoubtedly  lies  at  the  basis  of  the  incarnation, 
and  may  be  properly  represented  as  its  very  prin- 
ciple and  impulsive  cause.  Nor  can  it  be  doubted 
that  only  in  his  union  with  God  in  Christ,  which 
is  the  result  of  Christ's  incarnated  work,  does 
man  reach  his  true  destiny — the  destiny  designed 
for  him  from  the  beginning  of  the  world,  and 
without  which  in  prospect,  so  far  as  we  can  see, 
man  would  never  have  been  created  at  all. 

But  it  is  of  the  utmost  importance  for  us  to 


40     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

observe  that  these  truths,  great  and  fundamental 
as  they  are,  yet  do  not  penetrate  to  the  basal  fact 
as  to  the  end  of  the  incarnation.  Nor  can  they 
safely  be  treated  atomistically  as  so  many  inde- 
pendent truths  unrelated  to  one  another  or  to  the 
real  principle  of  the  incarnation.  They  rather 
form  parts  of  one  complete  sphere  of  truth  whose 
center  lies  in  the  soteriological  incarnation  of  the 
Bible.  And  only  as  each  finds  its  proper  place 
as  a  segment  of  this  sphere  of  truth  formed  about 
that  great  fact  does  it  possess  vaHdity,  or  even 
attain  the  height  of  its  own  idea.  It  is  only,  for 
example,  because  Christ  Jesus  came  to  save  sinners 
that  all  that  God  is  is  manifested  in  Him,  that 
love  finds  its  completest  exhibition  in  Him,  that 
through  Him  at  last  man  attains  his  primal  des- 
tiny. Eliminate  sin  as  the  proximate  occasion 
and  redemption  as  the  prime  end  of  the  incarna- 
tion, and  none  of  these  other  effects  will  follow 
from  it  at  all,  or  at  least  not  in  the  measure  of  their 
rights.  So  that  it  is  only  true  to  say  that  in 
order  that  each  may  attain  its  proper  place  in  our 
contemplation,  as  we  seek  to  gather  together  the 
ends  served  by  the  incarnation,  it  is  essential  that 
they  be  conceived  not  apart  from  salvation  from 
sin,  the  primary  end  of  the  incarnation,  as  its 
substitutes,  but  along  with  it,  as  its  complements. 


THE  SAVING  CHRIST  41 

But  this  great  declaration  not  only  takes  us 
back  into  the  counsels  of  the  eternal  God  that  we 
may  learn  what  from  the  ages  of  ages  He  pur- 
posed for  sinful  man,  but  it  also  throws  an  intense 
emphasis  on  the  nature  of  the  work  which  the 
incarnate  Son  of  God  came  to  perform.  We 
require  only  to  adjust  the  stress  that  falls  on  the 
separate  words  a  little  more  precisely  to  catch  a 
new  meaning  in  its  inspiring  words,  which  declare 
that  Christ  Jesus  came  into  the  world  to  save 
sinners. 

What,  after  all,  are  we  looking  for  in  Christ  ? 
Perhaps  very  divergent  replies  might  be  returned 
to  this  query  did  we  but  probe  our  hearts  deeply 
enough  and  question  our  hopes  resolutely 
enough.  At  all  events,  from  the  very  earliest 
ages  of  Christianity,  men  have  approached  Him 
with  very  varied  needs  prominent  in  their  minds, 
and  have  sought  in  Him  satisfaction  for  very 
diverse  necessities.  They  have  felt  the  need  of  a 
teacher,  an  example,  a  revealer  of  God,  a  mani- 
festation of  the  Divine  love,  an  unveiling  of  the 
mysteries  of  the  spiritual  world,  or  of  the  life  that 
lies  beyond  the  grave.  Or  they  have  felt  the 
need  of  a  protector,  a  strong  governor  on  whose 
arm  they  could  rest,  a  bulwark  against  the  evils 
of  this  life,  and  a  tower  of  strength  for  their  sup- 


42  THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

port  and  safety,  whether  in  this  Hfe  or  in  that  to 
come.  Or  they  have  felt  the  need  of  a  ransom 
from  sin,  of  a  redeemer,  an  expiation,  a  reconciler 
with  God,  a  sanctifier.  In  the  opulent  provision 
for  all  that  man  can  require  made  in  the  work 
of  the  Son  of  man,  we  can  find  all  this,  and 
more,  in  Him.  But  it  makes  eveiy  difference 
where,  amid  the  rich  profusion  of  His  mercies, 
we  discover  the  center  of  gravity  of  the  benefits 
conferred  on  us,  and  what  we  ascribe  more  to  the 
periphery. 

In  particular,  in  the  first  age  of  the  gospel 
declaration  it  appealed  to  men  more  especially 
along  three  lines  of  deeply  felt  needs.  Some, 
oppressed  chiefly  by  their  sense  of  the  igno- 
rance of  God  and  of  spiritual  realities  in  which 
they  had  languished  in  the  days  of  their  heath- 
endom, and  dazzled  by  the  light  of  the  glorious 
gospel  He  brought  to  them,  looked  to  Christ 
most  eagerly  as  the  Logos,  the  great  Revealer, 
who  had  brought  the  knowledge  of  God  to 
them,  and  with  the  knowledge  of  God  the 
knowledge  of  themselves  also  as  the  sons 
of  God.  Others,  oppressed  rather  by  the  mis- 
eries of  life,  turned  from  the  dreadful  physical 
and  social  conditions  in  which  humanity  itself 
had  nearly  been    ground    out  of   them,  to    hail 


THE  SAVING  CHRIST  43 

in  Christ  the  founder  of  a  new  social  order; 
and  permitted  their  quickened  hopes  to  play- 
almost  exclusively  round  the  promises  of  the 
kingdom  He  had  come  to  establish  and  the  joys 
it  would  bring.  We  call  the  one  class  "  Gnos- 
tics "  and  the  other  "  Chiliasts  "  ;  and  by  the  very 
attribution  to  them  of  these  party  names  indicate 
our  clear  perception  that  in  neither  of  these 
channels  did  the  great  stream  of  Christian  faith 
run.  For  from  the  beginning  it  has  been  true 
of  Christians  at  large  that  the  evils  they  have 
looked  to  Christ  primarily  to  be  relieved  from 
have  been  neither  intellectual  nor  social,  but 
rather  distinctly  moral  and  spiritual.  There  have 
arisen  from  time  to  time  one-sided  and  insuffi- 
cient modes  of  expressing  even  this  deeper  long- 
ing and  truer  trust  in  Christ.  Early  Christians 
were  apt,  for  example,  to  speak  of  themselves 
too  exclusively  as  under  bondage  to  Satan,  and 
to  look  to  Christ  as  a  ransom  to  Satan  for  their 
release.  But,  however  strangely  they  may  now 
and  again  have  expressed  themselves,  the  essence 
of  the  matter  lay  clearly  revealed  in  their  thought 
— this,  namely,  in  the  words  of  the  text,  that 
Christ  Jesus  had  come  into  the  world  to  save 
sinners ;  that  sin  is  the  evil  from  which  we  need 
deliverance,  and  that  it  was  to  redeem  from  sin 


44     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

that  the  Son  of  God  left  His  throne  and  com- 
panied  with  wicked  men  for  a  season. 

The  two  thousand  years  of  Christian  Hfe  that 
have  been  Hved  since  the  gospel  of  salvation  was 
brought  into  the  world  have  not  availed  to  elimi- 
nate from  His  Church  these  insufficient  concep- 
tions of  our  Lord's  work.  Even  in  this  twen- 
tieth century  of  ours  there  still  exist  Christian 
intellectualists  as  extreme  as  any  Gnostic  of  old : 
men  who  look  to  Christ  for  nothing  but  instruc- 
tion, manifestation,  revelation,  teaching,  example ; 
and  who  still  discover  the  essence  of  Christianity 
in  the  higher  and  better  knowledge  it  brings  of 
what  is  true  and  good  and  beautiful.  And  by 
their  side  there  still  exist  to-day  Christian  social- 
ists as  extreme  as  any  Chiliast  of  old :  men  whose 
whole  talk  is  of  the  amelioration  of  life  brought 
about  by  Christ,  of  the  salvation  of  society,  of 
the  establishment  on  Christian  principles  of  a  new 
social  order  and  the  upbuilding  of  a  new  social 
structure ;  and  whose  prime  hope  in  Christ  is  for 
the  relief  of  the  distresses  of  life  and  the  building 
up  of  a  kingdom  of  well-being  in  the  world. 

We  shall  be  in  no  danger,  of  course,  of  neg- 
lecting the  truth  that  is  embodied  in  the  intel- 
lectualistic  and  the  socialistic  gospels.  Christ 
is    our   Prophet   and  our    King.     He   did    come 


THE  SAVING  CHRIST  45 

to  make  us  know  what  God  is,  and  what  His 
purposes  of  mercy  are  to  men;  and  where  the 
hght  of  that  knowledge  is  shut  out  from  men's 
sight  how  great  is  the  darkness  and  how  great 
is  the  misery  of  that  darkness !  He  is  our 
wisdom,  our  teacher  beyond  compare.  So  far 
from  minimizing  either  the  extent  or  the  value 
of  His  revelations,  we  must  rather  acknowledge 
that  we  cannot  magnify  them  enough.  And 
Christ  did  come  to  implant  in  human  society  a 
new  principle  of  social  health  and  organization, 
and  the  leaven  which  He  has  thus  imbedded  in 
the  mass  is  working,  and  is  destined  to  continue 
to  work,  every  conceivable  improvement  in  the 
structure  of  society  until  the  whole  is  leavened. 
In  a  word,  Christ  did  come  to  found  a  kingdom, 
and  in  that  kingdom  men  shall  dwell  together  in 
amity  and  peace,  and  love  shall  be  its  law,  and 
happiness  its  universal  condition.  It  is  with  no 
desire  to  minimize  the  intellectual  and  social 
blessings  that  Christ  has  brought  the  world, 
therefore,  that  we  would  insist  that  the  center  of 
His  work  Hes  elsewhere.  We  all  the  more  heartily 
hail  Him  as  our  Prophet  and  our  King,  that  we 
must  insist  that  He  is  also,  and  above  all,  our 
Priest.  He  has  saved  us  from  ignorance;  He  has 
saved  us  from  pain;  but  these  are  not  the  evils 


46     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

on  which  the  hinge  of  His  saving  work  turns. 
Above  all  and  before  all  He  has  saved  us  from 
sin.  "  Faithful  is  the  saying,  and  worthy  of  all 
acceptation,  that  Christ  Jesus  came  into  the  world 
to  save  sinners!' 

And  it  is  only  by  saving  us  from  sin,  we  must 
further  remark,  that  He  saves  us  from  ignorance 
and  from  misery.  There  is  a  high  and  true  sense, 
valid  here  too,  in  the  saying  that  faith  precedes 
reason :  that  it  is  only  he  that  is  in  Christ  Jesus 
who  can  know  God  and  acquire  any  effective 
insight  into  spiritual  truth.  And  equally  in  that 
other  maxim  that  the  regeneration  of  the  indi- 
vidual is  the  condition  of  the  regeneration  of 
society :  that  it  is  only  he  that  is  in  Christ  Jesus 
who  can  have  added  to  him  even  these  lesser 
benefits.  Apart  from  the  central  salvation  from 
sin,  knowledge  can  but  puff  up,  and  society  at 
best  is  a  whited  sepulchre,  full  of  dead  men's 
bones.  And  it  is  only  by  His  prime  work  of 
saving  from  sin — that  sin  which  is  the  root  of  all 
our  ignorance  and  of  all  our  bitterness  alike — 
that  He  makes  the  tree  good  that  its  fruits  may 
be  good  also.  In  the  penetrating  declaration  of 
our  text,  therefore,  we  perceive  the  heart  of 
Christianity  uncovered  for  us.  The  saying  that 
it  was  to  save  sinners  that  Christ  Jesus  came  into 


THE  SAVING  CHRIST  47 

the  world  is  a  faithful  one,  and  worthy  of  all 
acceptation.  And  that  means  that  it  is  not  the 
primary  function  of  Christianity  in  the  world  to 
educate  men,  though  we  shall  not  get  along  with- 
out teaching ;  or  to  ameliorate  their  physical  and 
social  condition,  though  we  shall  not  get  along  with- 
out charity;  but  to  proclaim  salvation  from  sin. 
It  exists  in  the  world  not  for  making  men  wise, 
nor  for  making  them  comfortable,  but  for  saving 
them  from  sin.  That  done  and  all  is  done — each 
result  following  in  its  due  course.  That  not  done, 
and  nothing  is  done.  All  the  wisdom  of  the 
ages,  all  the  delights  of  life,  are  of  no  avail  so 
long  as  we  are  oppressed  with  sin.  The  core  of 
the  gospel  is  assuredly  that  Christ  Jesus  came  to 
save  shiners. 

We  need,  however,  once  more  to  adjust  the 
emphasis  more  precisely  in  order  to  gain  the 
whole  message  of  our  passage.  What  Paul  de- 
clares to  be  a  faithful  saying,  and  worthy  of  all 
acceptation,  is  that  Christ  Jesus  came  to  save 
sinners.  Put  the  emphasis  now  on  the  one  word 
"  save  " — Christ  Jesus  came  to  save  sinners. 

Not,  then,  merely  to  prepare  salvation  for  them  ; 
to  open  to  them  a  pathway  to  salvation ;  to  re- 
move the  obstacles  in  the  way  of  their  salvation ; 


48     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

to  proclaim  as  a  teacher  a  way  of  salvation ;  to 
introduce  as  a  ruler  conditions  of  life  in  which 
clean  living  becomes  for  the  first  time  possible; 
to  bring  motives  to  holy  action  to  bear  upon  us ; 
to  break  down  our  enmity  to  God  by  an  exhibi- 
tion of  His  seeking  love ;  to  manifest  to  us  what 
sin  is  in  the  sight  of  God,  and  how  He  will  visit 
it  with  His  displeasure.  All  these  things  He 
undoubtedly  does.  But  all  these  things  together 
touch  but  the  circumference  of  His  work  for  man. 
Under  no  interpretation  of  the  nature  or  reach  of 
His  work  can  it  be  truly  said  that  Christ  Jesus 
came  to  do  these  things.  For  that  we  must  pene- 
trate deeper,  and  say  with  the  primitive  Church, 
in  this  faithful  saying  commended  to  us  by  the 
apostle,  that  Christ  Jesus  came  to  save  sinners. 

We  must  take  the  great  declaration  in  the 
height  and  depth  of  its  tremendous  meaning. 
Jesus  did  all  that  is  included  in  the  great  word 
''save!'  He  did  not  come  to  induce  us  to  save 
ourselves,  or  to  help  us  to  save  ourselves,  or  to 
enable  us  to  save  ourselves.  He  came  to  save  us. 
And  it  is  therefore  that  His  name  was  called 
Jesus — because  He  should  save  His  people  from 
their  sins.  The  glory  of  our  Lord,  surpassing  all 
His  other  glories  to  usward,  is  just  that  He  is  our 
actual  and  complete  Saviour ;  our  Saviour  to  the 


THE  SAVING  CHRIST  49 

uttermost.  Our  knowledge,  even  though  it  be 
His  gift  to  us  as  our  Prophet,  is  not  our  saviour, 
be  it  as  wide  and  as  deep  and  as  high  as  it  is  pos- 
sible to  conceive.  The  Church,  though  it  be  His 
gift  to  us  as  our  King,  is  not  our  saviour,  be  it  as 
holy  and  true  as  it  becomes  the  Church,  the  bride 
of  the  Lamb,  to  be.  The  reorganized  society  in 
which  He  has  placed  us,  though  it  be  the  product 
of  His  holy  rule  over  the  redeemed  earth,  is  not 
our  saviour,  be  it  the  new  Jerusalem  itself,  clothed 
in  its  beauty  and  descended  from  heaven.  Nay, 
let  us  cut  more  deeply  still.  Our  faith  itself, 
though  it  be  the  bond  of  our  union  with  Christ 
through  which  we  receive  all  His  blessings,  is  not 
our  saviour.  We  have  but  one  Saviour ;  and  that 
one  Saviour  is  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.  Nothin^r 
that  we  are  and  nothing  that  we  can  do  enters  in 
the  slightest  measure  into  the  ground  of  our 
acceptance  with  God.  Jesus  did  it  all.  And  by 
doing  it  all  He  has  become  in  the  fullest  and 
widest  and  deepest  sense  the  word  can  bear — our 
Saviour.  For  this  end  did  He  come  into  the 
world — to  save  sinners  ;  and  nothing  short  of  the 
actual  and  complete  saving  of  sinners  will  satisfy 
the  account  of  His  work  given  by  His  own  lips 
and  repeated  from  them  by  all  His  apostles. 
It  is  in  this  great  fact,  indeed,  that  there  lies  the 
4 


50  THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

whole  essence  of  the  gospel.  For  let  us  never 
forget  that  the  gospel  is  not  good  advice^  but 
good  nezvs.  It  does  not  come  to  us  to  make 
known  to  us  what  we  must  do  to  earn  salvation 
for  ourselves,  but  proclaiming  to  us  what  Jesus 
has  done  to  save  us.  It  is  salvation,  a  completed 
salvation,  that  it  announces  to  us ;  and  the  burden 
of  its  message  is  just  the  words  of  our  text — that 
Christ  Jesus  came  into  the  world  to  save  sinners. 

Now  Paul  could  never  write  of  this  tremen- 
dously moving  truth  in  a  cold  and  dry  spirit. 
There  was  nothing  that  so  burned  in  his  soul  as 
his  profound  sense  of  his  indebtedness  to  his  Re- 
deemer for  his  entire  salvation.  We  cannot  be 
surprised,  therefore,  to  note  that  as  he  repeats 
these  great  words,  "  Christ  Jesus  came  into  the 
world  to  save  sinners,"  his  thought  reverts  at 
once  to  his  own  part  in  this  great  salvation ;  and 
he  cries  aloud  with  swelling  heart,  "  Of  whom  I 
am  chief"  Says  an  old  Anglican  writer :  "  The 
apostle  applies  the  worst  word  in  the  text  to 
himself."  But  we  must  punctually  note,  Paul  is 
not,  therefore,  boasting  of  his  sin.  He  is,  on  the 
contrary,  glorying  in  his  salvation.  If  Christ 
came  just  to  save  sinners,  he  says,  in  effect,  Why 
that  means  me ;  for  that  is  what  I  am.     There  is 


THE  SAVING  CHRIST  51 

a  sense,  then,  no  doubt,  in  which  he  can  be  said 
to  be  glad  that  he  can  claim  to  be  a  sinner.  Not 
because  he  delights  in  wickedness,  but  because 
that  places  him  within  the  reach  of  the  mission  of 
Him  who  Himself  declared  that  He  came  not  to 
call  the  righteous,  but  sinners.  Paul  knows  there 
is  deep-seated  evil  within  him ;  he  knows  his  own 
inability  to  remedy  it — for  does  not  that  long  life 
of  legalistic  struggle,  when  after  the  straitest  sect 
of  his  religion  he  lived  a  Pharisee,  witness  to  his 
agonizing  efforts  to  heal  his  deadly  hurt?  In 
Christ  Jesus,  who  came  to  save  sinners,  he  sees 
the  one  hope  of  sinners  like  himself;  and  with 
deep  revulsion  of  feeling  he  takes  his  willing  place 
among  sinners  that  he  may  take  his  place  also 
among  saved  sinners.  His  only  comfort  in  life 
and  death  is  found  in  the  fact  that  Christ  Jesus 
came  just  to  save  sinners. 

Brethren,  it  is  there  only  also  that  our  comfort 
can  be  found,  whether  for  life  or  for  death.  Per- 
haps even  yet  we  hardly  know,  as  we  should 
know,  our  need  of  a  saviour.  Perhaps  we  may 
acknowledge  ourselves  to  be  sinners  only  in  lan- 
guid acquiescence  in  a  current  formula.  Such  a 
state  of  self-ignorance  cannot,  however,  last  for 
ever.  And  some  day — probably  it  has  already 
come  to  most  of  us — some  day  the  scales  will  fall 


52     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

from  our  eyes,  and  we  shall  see  ourselves  as  we 
really  are.     Ah,  then,  we  shall  have  no  difficulty 
in  placing  ourselves  by  the  apostle's  side,  and  pro- 
nouncing ourselves,  in  the  accents  of  the  deepest 
conviction,  the  chief  of  sinners.     And,  then,  our 
[      only  comfort  for  life  and  death,  too,  will  be  in  the 
i      discovery  that  Christ  Jesus  came  into  the  world 
I       just  to  save  sinners.     We  may  have  long  admired 
i       Him  as  a  teacher  sent  from  God,  and  have  long 
sought  to  serve  Him  as  a  King   re-ordering  the 
world ;  but  we  shall  find  in  that  great  day  of  self- 
j       discovery  that  we  have  never  known  Him  at  all 
\      till  He   has  risen   upon  our  soul's   vision  as   our 
I      Priest,  making  His  own  body  a  sacrifice  for  our 
sin.     For  such  as  we  shall  then  know  ourselves 
to  be,  it  is  only  as  a  Saviour  from  sin  that  Christ 
will  suffice ;  and  we  will  passionately  make   our 
own  such  words  as  these  that  a  Christian  singer 
has  put  into  our  mouths  : — 

"  I  sought  thee,  weeping,  high  and  low, 
\  I  found  Thee  not ;  I  did  not  know 

I  was  a  sinner — even  so, 

I  missed  Thee  for  my  Saviour. 

"  I  saw  Thee  sweetly  condescend 
Of  humble  men  to  be  the  friend, 
I  chose  Thee  for  my  way,  my  end, 
But  found  Thee  not  my  Saviour, 


THE  SAVING  CHRIST  53 

"  Until  upon  the  cross  I  saw  I 

My  God,  who  died  to  meet  the  law 
That  man  had  broken ;  then  I  saw 
My  sin,  and  then  my  Saviour. 

"What  seek  I  longer?   let  me  be 
A  sinner  all  my  days  to  Thee, 
Yet  more  and  more,  and  Thee  to  me 
Yet  more  and  more  my  Saviour. 
******* 
"  Be  Thou  to  me  my  Lord,  my  Guide, 
My  Friend,  yea,  everything  beside; 
But  first,  last,  best,  whate'er  betide 
Be  Thou  to  me  my  Saviour  !" 


Ill 

THE   ARGUMENT   FROM   EXPE- 

RIENCE 


Ill 

THE  ARGUMENT  FROM  EXPERIENCE 

"  Therefore  being  justified  by  faith,  we  have  peace  with  God 
through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  .  .  .  and  rejoice  in  hope  of  the 
glory  of  God." — Rom.  v.  i,  2  (A.  V.). 

The  subject  of  these  two  verses  is  the  Chris- 
tian's peace  and  joy.  You  will  observe  that  the 
apostle  does  not  argue  that  a  Christian  ought  to 
have  peace  and  joy.  He  does  not  exhort  Chris- 
tians to  seek  to  attain  peace  and  joy.  He  does 
not  expound  the  nature  of  a  Christian's  peace  and 
joy.  He  does  something  far  more  striking.  He 
assumes  the  Christian's  peace  and  joy  as  a  fact  of 
experience,  the  unquestionable  reality  of  which 
may  stand  as  a  common  ground  of  reasoning 
between  him  and  his  readers.  He  thus  represents 
peace  and  joy  as  a  special  characteristic  of  Chris- 
tians, recognized  as  such  by  all — peace  of  heart 
as  a  present  possession,  and  joy  over  the  great 
hope  which  is  theirs  for  the  future.  "  We  have," 
says  he,  "peace  with  God,  and  we  rejoice  over 
the  hope  of  the  glory  of  God." 

Upon  this  fact,  adduced  here  just  because  it 

57 


58     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

is  a  universally  acknowledged  and  undeniable 
fact,  that  the  Christian  enjoys  this  peace  with 
God  and  with  happy  lips  exults  over  the  hope 
of  glory,  the  apostle  founds  an  argument.  Let 
us  recall  the  place  of  the  passage  in  the  general 
disposition  of  the  matter  in  the  epistle.  In  the 
opening  chapters  was  exhibited  the  necessity  of 
a  justification  by  faith  and  not  by  works.  Then 
the  nature  and  working  of  this  method  of  salva- 
tion was  expounded.  Then  the  apostle  begins  a 
series  of  arguments  designed  to  show  that  this  is 
indeed  God's  method  of  saving  men.  The  first 
proof  that  he  offers  is  drawn  from  the  case  of 
Abraham,  and  operates  to  show  that  God  has 
always  so  dealt  with  His  people :  for  that  Abra- 
ham, the  father  of  the  faithful,  was  justified  by 
faith  and  not  by  works  the  Scriptures  expressly 
testify,  saying  that  "Abraham  believed  God,  and  it 
was  accounted  to  him  unto  righteousness."  This 
is  the  immediately  preceding  section  to  our  pres- 
ent passage.  In  the  immediately  succeeding  sec- 
tion he  appeals  to  the  analogy  of  God's  dealings 
with  men  in  other  matters.  It  was  by  the  trespass 
of  one  that  men  were  brought  into  sin  and  death 
— does  it  not  comport  with  God's  methods  that 
by  the  righteousness  of  one  men  should  be 
brought  into  justification  and  life?     Our  present 


THE  ARGUMENT  FROM  EXPERIENCE        59 

passage  lies  between,  and  constitutes  an  inter- 
mediate argument  that  justification  by  faith  is 
God's  own  method  of  saving  sinners. 

This  argument,  you  will  observe,  is  drawn  from 
the  experience  of  Paul's  Christian  readers.  They 
had  made  trial  of  this  method  of  salvation ;  they 
had  sought  justification,  not  on  the  ground  of 
works  of  righteousness  which  they  could  do,  but 
out  of  faith.  And  the  turmoil  of  guilty  dread 
before  God  which  filled  their  hearts  had  sunk 
into  a  sweet  sense  of  peace,  and  the  future  to 
which  they  had  hitherto  looked  shudderingly 
forward  in  fearful  expectation  of  judgment  had 
taken  on  a  new  aspect — they  *'  exult  in  hope  of 
the  glory  of  God."  It  is  on  this,  their  own  expe- 
rience, that  the  apostle  fixes  their  eyes.  They  have 
sought  justification  out  of  faith ;  they  have  reaped 
the  fruits  of  justification  in  peace  and  joy.  Can 
they  doubt  the  reality  of  the  middle  term,  of  that 
justification  that  mediates  between  their  faith  and 
their  peace  and  joy  ?  As  well  tell  the  famishing 
wanderer  that  the  pool  into  which  he  has  dipped 
his  cup  is  but  a  mirage  of  the  desert,  when  from 
it  the  refreshing  fluid  is  already  pouring  over  his 
parched  tongue,  and  bringing  life  and  vigor  into 
every  languid  member.  "  It  is  because  we  have 
been  justified,"    says   the    apostle — and    here   is 


6o  THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

the  emphasis,  "the  triumphant  emphasis,"  as  the 
great  German  commentator  H.  A.  W.  Meyer 
puts  it—"  it  is  because  we  have  been  really  and 
actually  justified  out  of  faith,  that  we  have  this 
peace  with  God,  and  are  able  to  exult  in  the 
hope  of  the  glory  of  God."  Thus  the  apostle 
argues  back  from  their  conscious  peace  and  joy 
to  the  reahty  of  the  justification  out  of  which 
they  grow. 

It  is  very  interesting  to  observe  this  prominent 
use  in  the  reasoning  of  the  apostle  Paul  of  what 
we  have  learned  to  call  "  the  argument  from  ex- 
perience." Some  appear  to  fancy  this  argument 
one  of  the  greatest  discoveries  of  the  nineteenth 
century ;  others  look  upon  it  with  suspicion  as  if 
its  use  were  an  innovation  of  dangerous  tend- 
ency. No  doubt,  hke  other  forms  of  argumenta- 
tion, it  is  liable  to  misuse.  It  is  to  misuse  it  to 
confound  it  with  proof  by  experiment.  By  his 
use  of  the  argument  from  experience  Paul  is  far 
from  justifying  those  who  will  accept  as  true  only 
those  elements  of  the  Christian  faith  the  truth 
of  which  they  can  verify  by  experiment.  There 
is  certainly  an  easily  recognizable  difference  be- 
tween trusting  God  for  the  future  because  we 
have  known  His  goodness  in  the  past,  and  cast- 


THE  ARGUMENT  FROM  EXPERIENCE   6i 

ing  ourselves  from  every  pinnacle  of  the  temple 
of  truth  in  turn  to  see  whether  He  has  really 
given  His  angels  charge  concerning  us,  according 
to  His  word. 

And  what  misuse  of  this  argument  could  be 
more  fatal  than  to  make  it  carry  the  whole  weight 
of  the  evidences  of  our  religion,  or  even,  as  has 
sometimes  been  done,  to  attempt  to  enhance  its 
value  by  disparaging  all  other  methods  of  proof? 
Such  an  exaggeration  of  its  importance  is  a  symp- 
tom of  that  unhappy  subjectivity  in  religion  unfor- 
tunately growing  in  our  modern  Church,  which 
betrays   its   weakened   hold    upon   the    objective 
truth  and  reality  of  Christianity  by  its  neglect  or 
even  renunciation  of  the  objective  proofs  of  its 
truth.      No   wonder   when   men   find   the  philo- 
sophical principles  or  critical  postulates  to  which 
they  have  committed  their  thinking,  working  their 
way  subtilely  but  surely  into  every  detail  of  their 
thought,  and  gradually  taking  from  them  their 
confidence  in  those  supernatural  facts  on  which 
Christianity  rests — no  wonder,  I  say,  that  in  such 
circumstances   they   should   despairingly   declare 
that  the  essence  of  Christianity  is  independent  of 
its  supposed  supernatural   history,  and  is  vindi- 
cated by  the  imminent  experiences  of  their  own 
souls.     Needless  to  say  that  the  essence  of  Chris- 


62     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

tianity  which  in  their  view  is  proved  by  their  ex- 
periences is  not  the  Christianity  of  Christ  and  His 
apostles,  but  the  philosophical  faith  of  their  own 
preconceptions.  And  needless  to  say  that  this 
despairing  and  exclusive  use  of  the  argument 
from  experience  has  no  analogy  in  the  usage  of 
Paul.  With  him,  it  takes  its  place  among  the 
other  arguments,  and  is  not  permitted  to  take  the 
place  of  the  rest.  He  appeals  first  to  God's  an- 
nounced intention  from  the  beginning  so  to  deal 
with  His  people,  and  to  the  historic  fact  of  His  so 
dealing  with  them.  And  he  appeals  last  to  the 
analogy  of  His  dealings  with  men  in  other  mat- 
ters. Between  these  he  places  the  argument  from 
experience,  and  twines  the  strong  cord  of  his 
proof  from  the  three  fibers  of  God's  express 
promise,  our  experience,  and  the  analogy  of  His 
working.  When  we  unite  the  Scriptural,  experi- 
ential, and  analogical  arguments  we  are  followers 
of  Paul. 

Such  a  use  of  the  argument  from  experience  by 
Paul,  though  it  may  interest  us,  certainly  cannot 
surprise  us.  It  is  no  unwonted  thing  with  Paul. 
It  constantly  appears  in  his  writings  as  a  capital 
argument,  and  such  was  his  confidence  in  it  that 
he  did  not  hesitate  at  times  to  stake  much  upon 


THE  ARGUMENT  FROM  EXPERIENCE        63 

its  validity.  It  is  to  this  argument,  for  example, 
that  he  appeals  when  he  cries  to  the  foolish  Gala- 
tians :  "  This  only  would  I  know  from  you,  Re- 
ceived ye  the  Spirit  by  works  of  law  or  by  the 
hearing  of  faith  ?"  They  had  received  the  Spirit 
— of  that  he  and  they  alike  were  sure.  And  they 
had  sought  Him,  not  by  law-works,  but  by  faith. 
That,  too,  they  knew  very  well.  Were  they  so 
foolish  as  to  be  unable  to  draw  the  inference 
thrust  upon  them — that  the  seeking  that  found 
was  the  true  and  right  seeking?  The  apostle 
will  then  draw  it  for  them.  "  He  therefore  that 
supplieth  the  Spirit  to  you,  and  worketh  powers 
in  you,  doeth  He  it  by  law-works  or  by  the  hear- 
ing of  faith  ?  Even  as  Abraham  believed  God,  and 
it  was  reckoned  to  him  unto  righteousness.  Ye 
perceive,  therefore,  that  they  which  be  of  faith,  the 
same  are  Abraham's  sons." 

An  humbler  servant  of  Christ  than  Paul,  and 
a  far  earlier  one,  had,  indeed,  long  before  pressed 
this  argument  with  matchless  force.  BHnd  un- 
belief alone  could  say  to  him  who  once  was  blind 
but  now  could  see :  "  This  man  is  not  from  God. 
Give  glory  to  God ;  we  know  that  this  man  is  a 
sinner."  The  one,  the  sufficient  answer  was : 
"  Whether  He  be  a  sinner,  I  know  not ;  one 
thing  I  know,  that  whereas  I  was  blind,  now  I 


64     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

see.  .  .  .  Why  herein  is  the  marvel,  that  ye  know 
not  whence  He  is,  and  yet  He  opened  mine 
eyes !"  Greater  marvel  than  the  opening  of  the 
eyes  of  one  born  bhnd  that  men  should  shut 
their  eyes  to  who,  and  what,  and  whence  He  is, 
who  opens  blind  eyes!  "If  this  man  were  not 
from  God,  He  could  do  nothing!" 

What,  after  all,  is  this  "  argument  from  experi- 
ence "  but  an  extension  of  our  Lord's  favorite 
argument  from  the  fruits  to  the  tree  which  bears 
the  fruits  ?  He  who  is  producing  the  fruits  of  the 
Spirit  has  received  the  Spirit ;  he  who  has  reaped 
the  fruits  of  justification  has  received  justification ; 
and  he  who  has  obtained  these  fruits  by  the  seek- 
ing of  faith  knows  that  he  has  obtained  out  of  his 
faith  the  justification  of  which  they  are  the  fruits; 
and  may  know,  therefore,  that  the  way  of  faith  is 
the  right  and  true  way  of  obtaining  justification. 
We  must  not  pause  in  the  midst  of  the  argument 
and  refuse  to  draw  the  final  conclusion.  If  the 
presence  of  the  fruits  of  justification  proves  we  are 
justified,  the  presence  of  the  justification,  thus 
proved,  proves  that  justification  is  found  on  the 
road  by  which  we  reached  it.  This  is  the  apostle's 
argument. 

That  the  argument  is  valid  it  is  not  easy  to 
doubt.     It  is  one  of  those  practical  appeals  which 


THE  ARGUMENT  FROM  EXPERIENCE        65 

carry  conviction  even  to  minds  which  do  not 
care  to  investigate  the  grounds  of  their  vahdity. 
Nevertheless  its  vahdity  has  its  imphcations,  and 
this  is  as  much  as  to  say  that  it  rests  on  presup- 
positions without  which  it  would  not  be  valid. 
Men  may  draw  water  from  a  well  and  be  assured 
that  it  comes  to  them  through  the  action  of  the 
pump,  without  at  all  understanding,  or  stopping  to 
consider,  the  theory  of  suction  by  which  the  pump 
acts.  But  no  pump  will  yield  water  if  it  be  not 
constructed  in  accordance  with  the  principles  of 
suction.  And  it  seems  accordingly  important  that 
the  principles  of  suction  should  be  understood. 
Our  understanding  of  these  principles  not  only 
increases  the  intelligence  but  also  adds  to  the 
confidence  with  which  we  accredit  the  refreshing 
floods  to  its  gift.  In  a  somewhat  analogous  way 
it  will  repay  us  to  investigate  the  validity  of  the 
apostle's  argument  from  experience,  and  to  seek 
to  bring  clearly  before  us  the  presuppositions  on 
which  its  vahdity  rests  and  the  hnes  of  reasoning 
on  which  its  conclusions  may  be  justified.  It 
will  surely  grow  in  force  to  us  in  proportion  to 
the  clearness  with  which  its  implications  are 
apprehended. 

These     implications    or    presuppositions     are, 
speaking  broadly,  two.     In  the  first  place,  it  is 
5 


66     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION    . 

implied  in  the  validity  of  this  argument — so  im- 
mediately and  inevitably  recognized — that  there 
is  a  natural  adaptation  in  this  mode  of  salvation 
— the  mode  of  justification  by  faith — for  the  pro- 
duction of  peace  and  joy  in  the  heart  of  the 
sinner  that  embraces  it.  And  in  the  second  place, 
it  is  implied  in  the  validity  of  this  argument  that 
the  deliverances  of  the  human  conscience  are 
but  the  shadows  of  the  divine  judgment:  that  its 
imperatives  repeat  the  demands  of  God's  right- 
eousness, and  its  satisfaction  argues  the  satisfac- 
tion of  the  divine  justice.  Let  us  look  at  these 
implications  in  turn. 

First,  let  us  inquire  if  there  is  not  necessarily 
implied  a  natural  adaptation  in  justification  by 
faith  to  produce  peace  and  joy  in  the  sinner. 

We  have  sought,  let  us  say,  justification  out 
of  faith.  We  have  peace  and  joy.  Here  are  two 
facts.  We  may  look  at  them  separately.  What 
is  to  unite  them  in  our  apprehension  ?  What 
warrants  us  to  infer  from  the  mere  fact  that  we 
have  peace  and  joy  that  this  peace  and  joy  are 
the  product  of  the  justification  that  we  have 
sought  out  of  faith,  and  therefore  argue  the  reality 
of  that  justification  and  the  success  of  our  seek- 
ing it  by  faith  ? 


THE  ARGUMENT  FROM  EXPERIENCE        67 

Is  it  merely  that  the  peace  and  joy  have  suc- 
ceeded in  the  sequence  of  time  the  seeking  by 
faith?  What  is  to  assure  us  that  this  is  not  a 
mere  post  hoc  and  no  propter  hoc  at  all  ?  Is  it  then 
merely  the  universality  of  the  experience — our 
observation  that  all  such  seekers  have  proved  to 
be  finders  ?  Is  a  Christian  to  base  his  peace  and 
joy,  then,  on  another's  finding?  Nay,  on  the 
invariableness  of  such  finding  by  others  ?  Who 
will  assure  him  of  this  invariableness  ?  Who  will 
assure  him  that  the  next  seeker  may  not  fail  to 
find  ?  That  in  the  next  village  such  seekers  may 
not  as  invariably  fail  as  among  his  own  acquaint- 
ances they  have  invariably  found  ?  That  his  par- 
tial observation,  in  a  word,  is  the  norm  of  fact  ? 
Must  he  wait  to  base  his  confidence  and  hope  on 
the  collection  and  tabulation  of  a  body  of  sta- 
tistics ? 

For  the  validity  of  the  argument  it  is  obvious 
that  there  must  be  some  more  immediate  and 
obvious  vinculum  between  the  seeking  and  find- 
ing than  mere  observed  sequence,  some  natural 
connection  between  the  justification  sought  by 
faith  and  the  peace  and  joy  which  have  come 
to  the  seeker — level  to  the  apprehension  of  all, 
and  pointing  each  one  directly  to  his  justification, 
as  the  source  of  his  peace  and  joy,  in  so  clear 


68     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

and  convincing  a  way  that  he  needs  must  find 
the  account  of  his  inward  peace  in  the  reality  of 
his  outward  justification.  Does  any  such  con- 
nection exist? 

Something  of  this  connection  will  no  doubt  be 
supplied  by  the  fact  that  these  Christians  who 
now  enjoy  this  peace  and  joy  have  been  seekers 
of  peace  and  joy  by  other  methods  than  through 
faith,  and  have  not  found ;  and  only  upon  laying 
aside  their  feverish  efforts  at  self-salvation  and 
upon  seeking  through  faith,  have  they  found.  The 
contrast  of  these  diverse  experiences  counts  for 
much,  and  assures  them  that  the  blessed  fruits 
of  justification  ripen  in  the  heart  only  when  justi- 
fication is  sought  through  faith;  that  they  do 
not  grow  on  the  tree  of  works.  Were  this  not 
the  experience  of  Christians,  the  apostle's  whole 
argument  would  fail.  That  argument  has,  there- 
fore, a  double  edge;  it  as  much  implies  that 
peace  and  joy  do  not  come  through  works  as 
that  they  do  come  through  faith.  What  he  is 
attempting  to  prove  is  just  that  justification  comes 
out  of  faith  and  not  out  of  works ;  and  the  expe- 
rience it  rests  upon  must  be  an  experience,  there- 
fore, of  not  finding  as  truly  as  an  experience  of 
finding.  This  double  experience,  then,  we  say, 
will  go  far  toward  connecting  the  peace  and  joy 


THE  ARGUMENT  FROM  EXPERIENCE        69 

which  Christians  possess,  with  a  justification  spe- 
cifically by  faith  as  its  root  and  source. 

It  will  go  far  toward  it,  but  it  will  not  go  the 
whole  way.  The  connection  so  found  is  still 
only  an  empirical  one.  Even  if  it  should  prove 
universal  it  might  still  be  accidental.  A  deeper 
fact  must  lie  behind,  creating  a  more  necessary 
connection ;  or  rather,  let  us  say,  giving  a  rational 
account  of  this  experience.  That  deeper  fact 
must  lie  in  some  inherent  difference  in  the  modes 
of  seeking;  that  is,  it  can  only  lie  in  the  natural 
adaptation  of  the  mode  of  salvation  set  forth  in 
the  term  "justification  by  faith  "  for  the  produc- 
tion of  peace  and  joy  in  the  heart  of  the  sinner 
who  embraces  it — a  natural  adaptation  absent 
from  works.  In  other  words,  the  connection  will 
fully  emerge  only  on  the  discovery  of  the  fact 
that  peace  and  joy  are  the  natural,  or,  indeed, 
the  necessary  fruits  of  seeking  salvation  in  the 
method  proclaimed  by  the  apostle. 

In  order  to  make  this  plain,  we  have  only  to 
formulate  clearly  the  question  on  the  decision  of 
which  it  is  suspended.  It  is  this  :  Whether  there 
is  an  adaptation  in  the  method  of  salvation  pro- 
claimed by  Paul  for  the  production  of  such  effects 
as  peace  and  joy :  or  whether  the  peace  and  joy 
which  follow  the  trial  of  this  mode  of  salvation 


70     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

arise  within  the  heart  wholly  unrelated  with,  and 
pointing  in  no  wise  back  to,  the  justification  of 
which  they  are  the  fruits.  In  other  words, 
whether  men  find  peace  and  joy  on  seeking  justifi- 
cation through  faith  only  because  the  Holy  Spirit 
works  these  sentiments  in  some  mysterious  way 
in  their  hearts — causing  them  to  spring  up  within 
them  on  His  almighty  fiat  as  flowers  growing  on 
no  stalk;  or  whether  the  Spirit's  fecundating 
power  causes  them  to  grow  visibly  upon  the  stem 
of  justification  by  faith  itself  We  cannot  doubt, 
following  Paul,  which  is  the  true  alternative. 

The  sense  of  peace  that  steals  into  the  heart, 
the  exulting  joy  which  cannot  keep  silence  on 
the  lips  of  him  who  seeks  his  justification  out  of 
faith,  are  indeed  the  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
Apart  from  His  vitalizing  operations  even  the 
saved  soul  might  remain  dark  and  the  redeemed 
lips  dumb.  But  they  do  not,  therefore,  hang  in 
the  air  without  cognizable  ground  or  source. 
The  Holy  Spirit  does  not  here,  any  more  than  in 
other  spheres  of  his  activity,  work  irrational 
effects.  There  is  a  rational  account  to  be  given 
of  this  peace  and  joy  as  well  as  a  spiritual  one. 
The  mode  of  justification  propounded  by  God 
through  the  apostle  is  one  which  is  adapted  to 
the  actual  condition  of  man ;  one  which  is  calcu- 


THE  ARGUMENT  FROM  EXPERIENCE        71 

lated  to  satisfy  his  conscience,  to  allay  his 
remorseful  sense  of  guilt,  to  supply  him  a  rational 
ground  of  conviction  of  acceptance  with  God, 
and  to  quicken  in  him  a  happy,  hopeful  outlook 
upon  the  future.  And  it  is  because  this  mode  of 
justification  is  thus  calculated  to  provide  a  solid 
ground  for  peace  and  joy  to  the  rational  under- 
standing that  those  who  seek  justification  thus  and 
not  otherwise  acquire,  under  the  quickening  influ- 
ences of  the  Spirit,  a  sense  of  peace  with  God  and 
a  joyful  outlook  of  hope  for  the  future. 

No  more  here  than  elsewhere  does  the  Spirit 
of  all  order  work  a  bHnd,  an  ungrounded,  an  irra- 
tional set  of  emotions  in  the  heart.  Did  He  so, 
they  would  scarcely  be  probative  of  anything.  A 
set  of  emotions  arising  in  the  soul,  no  one  knows 
whence,  no  one  knows  on  what  grounds,  espe- 
cially if  they  were  persistent,  and  in  proportion 
as  they  were  violent,  would  only  vex  the  soul  and 
cast  it  into  inquietude.  It  is  only  because  these 
Spirit-worked  emotions  of  peace  and  joy  attach 
themselves  rationally  to  the  mode  of  justification 
by  faith  that  they  can  point  to  it  as  their  source, 
and  prove  that  they  who  have  sought  their  justi- 
fication by  faith  have  surely  found.  The  proba- 
tive power  of  the  actual  peace  and  joy  received 
by  the  means  of  this  justification  is  thus  depend- 


72     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

ent  upon  the  rational  adaptability  of  this  method 
of  salvation  to  produce,  in  those  who  make  trial 
of  it,  peace  of  heart  and  joy  in  the  prospect  of 
the  future.  The  gist  of  the  whole  matter,  then, 
is  that  this  mode  of  justification  may  be  recog- 
nized as  supplying  the  only  true  and  actual  justi- 
fication, because  it  alone,  among  all  the  methods 
by  which  men  have  sought  to  obtain  peace  with 
God,  is  calculated  to  satisfy  their  consciences  and 
to  furnish  to  them  a  rational  ground  of  hope  of 
acceptance. 

How  many  other  ways  there  are  in  which 
men  have  sought  and  continue  to  seek  peace ! 
And  how  little  they  avail !  Let  them  seek  by 
works — at  the  best,  they  can  but  cry  at  the  last 
that  they  are  unprofitable  servants.  The  per- 
fect obedience  which  their  hearts  tell  them,  in 
a  voice  which  will  not  be  gainsaid,  is  due  from 
them,  they  know  also  that  they  have  not  ren- 
dered, that  they  cannot  render.  And  the  dread- 
ful load  of  guilt  with  which  their  past  offenses 
have  burdened  their  souls,  and  which  their  pres- 
ent sins  are  continually  increasing,  weighs  down 
their  spirits  in  hopeless  despair.  While  walking 
this  treadmill  road  of  works  no  peace  can  pos- 
sibly visit  their  hearts ;  no  exultation  in  the  pro- 
spective  goal   can   attend    their    steps.     Present 


THE  ARGUMENT  FROM  EXPERIENCE   73 

anguish,  despairing  desperation — these  are  their 
only  possible  heritage. 

Let    them,   then,    despairingly    recognize    the 
hopelessness    of  a   work-righteousness   for   such 
creatures  as  men,  and  abase  themselves  in  rueful 
sorrow  before  God,  confessing  the  blackness  of 
their  sin  and  the  utterness  of  their  helplessness, 
and  pleading   God's   mercy  as   their  only  hope. 
Can  remorse,  as   it  bites   back  upon  the  soul  in 
memory  of  its  deeds   of  shame,  atone  for  guilt 
incurred — condone   for  continued  incompleteness 
of  obedience  ?     Is  it  not  rather  the  heart  rising 
up  against  itself  in   self-disgust,   accusing   itself 
before  the  holy  and  just  God,  and  dragging  away 
its  refuges  of  lies  that   it  may  see  the  sword  of 
vengeance    hanging     over    it?      How    can    the 
awakened  sense  of  sin  instill  peace  into  the  soul? 
Or  the  soul's  own  fierce  condemnation  of  itself 
open    out    before    it    vistas    of    exulting   hope? 
When  our  hearts  condemn  us  it  is  our  despair 
to  know  that  God  is  greater  than  our  hearts — 
greater    in    His    flaming    hatred    of    sin,    in    the 
strictness   of  His  inquisition,  in  the   certain  ven- 
geance of  His  justice. 

Well,  then,  may  God  be  bribed  ?  Let  us  heap 
up  our  votive  offerings  upon  His  altar.  Let  us 
continually  sing  His  praises  before  men — some- 


74  THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

thing  after  the  fashion  of  those  Ephesians  who 
stood  in  the  theater  and  "  all  with  one  voice, 
about  the  space  of  two  hours,  cried  out,  '  Great  is 
Diana  of  the  Ephesians !' "  Let  us  devote  our 
lives  to  His  service  in  a  perfection  of  obedience 
which  we  know  we  cannot  render,  or  in  an 
exquisite  minuteness  of  self-torture  which  we 
hope  He  may  accept  in  lieu  of  obedience.  Can 
we  believe  that  God  will  accept  these  in  place  of 
His  due  ?  Let  us  drown  His  altars  in  the  blood 
of  bulls  and  goats ;  or — for  such  is  the  wont  of 
men  seeking  to  still  the  accusing  voice  within 
them — let  us  slash  our  flesh  and  mingle  our  own 
blood  with  that  of  the  sacrifices.  Let  us  even — 
for  this,  too,  men  have  done  in  their  agony  of 
remorse  in  every  corner  of  this  globe — give  the 
fruit  of  our  bodies  for  the  sins  of  our  souls, 
"  making  our  son  or  our  daughter  pass  through 
the  fire  to  Moloch."  Or,  since  those  days  are 
passed,  and  the  fires  on  the  world's  altars  are 
quenched,  let  us  offer  up  our  own  lives  to  God, 
starving  within  us  all  natural  affections,  stifling 
all  proper  emotions,  and  painfully  immolating 
ourselves  on  a  daily  altar  of  ascetic  observance. 
Can  we  believe  that  thus  the  righteous  anger  of 
the  holy  and  righteous  One  against  our  sins  will 
be  appeased  so  that  He  will  satisfy  Himself  with 


THE  ARGUMENT  FROM  EXPERIENCE   75 

our  imperfect  obedience?  We  know  that  the 
judgment  of  God  is  true;  and  that  He  is  of 
purer  eyes  than  to  behold  iniquity,  even  though 
we  writhe  in  fear  before  His  face  and  strive  to 
cloud  his  eyes  to  its  enormity. 

But  why  need  we  multiply  words?  Such  expe- 
dients men  have  always  tried,  and  such  expedients 
men  are  everywhere  trying,  in  their  despairing 
search  for  peace.  Every  such  expedient  con- 
ceivable men  have  tried— we  have  tried — and 
peace  has  not  been  attained.  We  look  in  dread 
about  us,  and  clearly  see  that  every  avenue  of 
escape  is  closed. 

Every  avenue  of  escape  is  closed.  All  but  one. 
If— if  an  adequate  atonement  might  be  made  for 
sin ;  if  a  perfect  obedience  could  be  rendered  to 
the  law ;  and  if  this  atonement  and  this  obedience 
should  be  made  ours :  then,  but  only  then,  could 
hope  awake  in  our  dead  souls,  could  peace  once 
more  steal  into  our  troubled  hearts.  Now,  it  is 
just  this  that  Paul  offers  to  a  despairing  world  in 
the  proclamation  of  justification  by  faith.  It  is  a 
proclamation  of  "justification,"  you  will  observe, 
not  a  proclamation  of  escape  from  sin's  penalty — 
not  even  a  proclamation  of  simple  pardon  of  sin, 
or  of  the  eradication  of  sin — but  specifically  a 
proclamation   of  "justification."      It   appeals    as 


76  THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

such  to  the  judgment  of  conscience,  and  works  its 
effect  in  the  realm  of  conscience.  Paul  does  not 
deny  man's  guilt — he  asserts  man's  guilt.  He 
does  not  outrage  conscience  by  proclaiming  par- 
don without  expiation  of  guilt — he  proclaims  the 
indefeasible  need  of  expiation.  He  does  not  insult 
intelligence  by  representing  that  sinful  man  can 
offer  the  expiation  that  is  required  and  at  the 
same  time  acquire  merit  for  reward — he  proclaims 
the  helplessness  of  humanity  in  its  estate  of  con- 
demnation. He  empties  us  of  all  righteousness 
which  we  may  claim,  or  which  we  may  seek  to 
acquire  by  our  deeds,  and  proclaims  with  piercing 
clearness  that  by  the  deeds  of  the  law  shall  no 
flesh  be  justified.  And  then  he  turns  and  points 
to  a  wonderful  spectacle  of  the  Son  of  God,  be- 
come man,  taking  His  place  at  the  head  of  His 
people,  presenting  an  infinite  sacrifice  for  their 
sins  in  His  own  body  on  the  tree,  working  out  a 
perfect  righteousness  in  their  stead  in  the  myriad 
deeds  of  love  and  right  that  filled  His  short  but 
active  life ;  and  offering  this  righteousness,  this 
righteousness  of  God,  provided  by  God  and  ac- 
ceptable to  God,  to  the  acceptance  of  the  world. 
Here  is  a  mode  of  salvation  which  is  indeed 
calculated  to  still  the  gnawing  sense  of  guilt  and 
quiet  the  fear  of  wrath.     And  a  capital  proof  of 


THE  ARGUMENT  FROM  EXPERIENCE        -j^ 

its  truth  is  that  it  does  at  last  supply  a  basis,  on 
which  resting,  men  can  believe  that  they  are  ac- 
cepted with  God;  that  it  lays  a  foundation,  on 
which  building,  men  can  at  length  feel  peace 
of  heart  and  entertain  hope  for  the  future.  In 
effect  the  apostle  says  to  his  readers :  "  You  have 
tried  every  way  of  making  your  peace  with  God : 
only  in  this  way  have  you  found  one  which 
satisfied  your  consciences.  The  righteousness  of 
Christ,  laid  hold  of  by  faith,  evidently  suffices  for 
all  your  needs.  Resting  upon  it,  your  guilty  fears 
subside  and  you  feel  safe  at  last.  Thus,  and  thus 
alone,  you  see  that  God  may  be  just  (as  you  know 
Him  to  be  unfailingly)  and  yet  the  justifier  of 
such  sinners  as  you  know  yourselves  to  be." 

And  you  will  observe  how  Paul  not  only  says 
this  in  effect  in  this  appeal  to  his  readers'  experi- 
ence, but  the  whole  trend  of  the  epistle  up  to  this 
point  is  calculated  to  give  force  to  the  appeal  and 
to  evoke  an  immediate  and  deep  response.  For 
what  is  that  proof,  with  which  the  epistle  opens, 
that  all  men  are  sinners  and  under  the  condem- 
nation of  the  law,  so  that  the  wrath  of  God  is 
revealed  from  heaven  against  them  as  workers 
of  iniquity,  but  a  faithful  probing  of  conscience, 
awakening  it  to  a  sense  of  guilt  and  a  conscious- 
ness of  helplessness?    And  what  is  that  expo- 


78     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

sition  of  God's  mode  of  justification  by  means  of 
a  righteousness  provided  by  Christ  and  laid  hold 
of  by  faith,  but  a  loving  presentation  of  the  sacri- 
fice and  work  of  Christ  to  the  apprehension  of 
faith?  And  what  is  that  exposition  of  the  ac- 
ceptance of  Abraham,  the  father  of  the  faithful, 
but  a  gracious  assurance  that  it  is  thus  that  God 
deals  mercifully  with  his  children  ?  And  what, 
now,  is  this  appeal  to  their  own  experience  as 
they  have  humbly  sought  God's  forgiveness  and 
acceptance  in  Christ,  by  simple  faith  in  Him,  but 
an  assault  on  their  hearts,  that  they  may  be  forced 
to  realize  for  themselves  and  confess  to  their 
fellow-men  all  the  satisfaction  they  have  found  in 
believing  in  Christ? 

Paul's  words,  says  Jerome,  are  not  like  the 
words  of  other  men,  *'  they  have  hands  and  feet " ; 
they  are  living  things  and  tug  at  our  very  heart 
strings.  But  they  are  not  less,  but  more,  logical 
arguments  for  that;  and  we  perceive  that  in  his 
present  argument  it  is  to  this  feeling  of  satisfac- 
tion in  the  man  who  has  sought  his  justification 
by  believing  in  Christ  that  the  apostle  appeals  in 
proof  of  the  reality  and  truth  of  the  justification 
sought.  His  argument  is  from  the  internal  peace 
to  the  external  peace.  You  have  sought  justifica- 
tion out  of  faith,  he  says ;  you  have  appropriated 


THE  ARGUMENT  FROM  EXPERIENCE        79 

the  sacrifice  of  Jesus  Christ  and  His  righteous- 
ness ;  you  rest  on  Him,  and  interpose  Him  be- 
tween you  and  God.  Your  conscience  says,  It 
is  enough.  For  the  first  time  you  find  satisfaction 
— your  guilty  fears  subside  and  a  sense  of  peace 
and  exulting  joy  in  the  future  prospect  take  their 
place.  Is  not  this  new-found  satisfaction  of  con- 
science a  proof  of  the  reality  of  the  justification 
you  sought  ?     This  is  Paul's  argument. 

But  once  more  we  need  to  pause  and  ask,  How 
is  the  argument  valid  ?  External  peace  with  God 
is  inferred  here  from  internal  peace  of  conscience. 
What  warrants  such  a  tremendous  inference  ?  Is 
it  so  certain  that  because  the  qualms  of  our  con- 
science are  satisfied,  therefore  the  demands  of 
God's  justice  are  satisfied  ?  Here  lies  the  deepest 
foundation  of  the  argument;  and  it  is  important 
for  us  to  realize  fully  this  second  of  the  impHca- 
tions  which  we  have  pointed  out  as  necessarily 
lying  at  its  basis.  Its  validity  rests,  as  we  have 
said,  on  the  assumption  that  the  human  con- 
science is  the  shadow  of  God's  judgment;  that  its 
deliverances  repeat  the  demands  of  God's  right- 
eousness; and  that  its  satisfaction,  therefore,  argues 
the  satisfaction  of  God's  justice. 

But  here  again,  tremendous  as  the  assumption 


8o     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

is,  we  suppose  it  needs  only  to  be  clearly  stated 
to  be  already  accepted.  For  what  is  the  question 
that  is  raised  but,  Whether  the  appeasing  effect  of 
Christ's  blood  of  expiation  is  confined  to  the 
human  conscience  solely,  while  what  we  may  call 
the  divine  conscience — God's  sense  of  right — is 
left  unaffected  by  it  ?  And  what  is  this  question 
but  this  deeper  one,  Whether  our  moral  sense  is 
so  out  of  analogy  with  God's  moral  sense  that 
what  fully  meets  and  satisfies  that  moral  indigna- 
tion which  rises  in  us  on  the  realization  of  sin  as 
sin,  stands  wholly  out  of  relation  with  God's 
moral  indignation  at  the  spectacle  of  sin  ?  Can 
this  be  a  matter  of  doubt  ?  Certainly  it  is  to  be 
hoped  not.  For  so  to  affirm  would  obviously 
be  to  confound  all  our  moral  judgments.  Not 
merely  would  it  dethrone  conscience  from  her 
empire  over  our  Hves  and  thoughts,  but  it  would 
reduce  unhappy  man  to  a  state  far  worse  than 
that  of  the  unreflecting  brutes. 

Far  better  to  have  no  sense  of  right  and  wrong 
than  to  be  cursed  with  a  faculty  as  sensitive  to 
moral  distinctions  as  the  needle  is  to  the  magnetic 
currents,  and  yet  so  wayward  in  its  movements  as 
to  lead  us  continually  astray,  and  bite  back  upon 
us  with  the  bitterest  remorse  when  perchance  we 
have  earned  the  praise  of  God.     At  the  best,  con- 


THE  ARGUMENT  FROM  EXPERIENCE   8i 

science  would  sink  into  the  voice  of  hereditary 
custom;  and  what  we  call  the  right  would  be 
transmuted  into  the  habitual,  what  has  been  found 
expedient  in  the  present  constitution  of  society. 
Its  opposite  would  be  equally  right  in  a  differently 
constituted  social  order — as  Mr.  Darwin  tells  us, 
indeed,  affirming  that  were  men  organized  accord- 
ing to  the  social  order  of,  say,  bees,  what  we 
fondly  dream  is  the  voice  of  God  within  us  guard- 
ing the  sacred  boundary-lines  that  separate  the 
domains  of  eternal  right  and  wrong,  would  speak 
in  opposite  tones,  requiring,  with  its  categorical  im- 
perative, what  it  now  brands  as  sin,  and  scourging 
us  away  from  what  we  now  look  upon  as  right, 
with  all  its  machinery  of  instinctive  shrinking, 
sense  of  guilt,  burning  shame,  and  biting  remorse. 
Thus,  as  you  will  observe,  all  of  what  men  call 
morality  perishes  out  of  the  earth — the  convenient 
and  expedient  take  its  place.  And  with  it  per- 
ishes also  all  that  men  call  religion :  for  a  God 
requiring  we  know  not  and  cannot  know  what — 
who  may  be  most  deeply  offended  when  we  most 
sincerely  strive  to  please  Him — whose  judgments 
of  right  and  wrong  are  so  out  of  analogy  with 
ours  that  His  most  burning  wrath  may  be  stirred 
by  our  highest  holiness,  and  His  most  gracious 
good  pleasure  evoked  by  what  causes  us  the  most 
6 


82  THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

agonizing  regret,  is  clearly  not  a  God  whom  such 
creatures  as  men  may  serve ;  nay,  is  clearly  to  us 
no  God  at  all.  The  truth  of  our  moral  sense  and 
blank  atheism  are  the  only  alternatives.  That 
men  may  remain  men,  as  it  is  necessary  that  what 
they  must  believe  to  be  true,  is  true;  so  it  is  neces- 
sary that  what  they  must  believe  to  be  right,  is 
right.  The  eternally  ineradicable  distinction  of 
right  and  wrong,  the  changeless  and  sensitive 
truth  of  the  human  conscience  to  this  distinction 
— these  are  the  conditions,  on  the  one  hand,  of 
human  sanity ;  and  the  essential  postulates,  on 
the  other,  of  all  religion. 

We  need  not  fear  to  allow,  therefore,  that  the 
validity  of  our  sense  of  peace  in  the  justification 
of  faith  rests  on  the  correspondence  between  the 
moral  sense  of  man  and  the  moral  sense  of  God. 
Without  that  correspondence  no  valid  peace 
could  ever,  on  any  ground,  visit  the  human  heart. 
And  a  peace  which  is  as  deeply  grounded  as  the 
reality  of  this  correspondence,  is  rooted  so  pro- 
foundly in  the  nature  of  man  that  humanity 
itself  must  perish  before  that  peace  can  be  taken 
away.  If  there  be  a  God  at  all,  the  author  of 
our  moral  nature,  it  is  just  as  certain  as  His 
existence  that  the  moral  judgment  which  He  has 
implanted  in  us  is  true  to  the  pole  in  the  depths 


THE  ARGUMENT  FROM  EXPERIENCE        83 

of  His  own  moral  being;  that  its  deliverances 
as  to  right  and  wrong  are  but  the  transcripts  of 
His  own  moral  judgments;  that  it  is  rightly 
called  the  voice  of  God  within  us,  and  we  may- 
hearken  to  its  decisions  not  so  much  with  confi- 
dence that  they  will  be  confirmed  in  the  forum 
of  heaven  as  with  the  assurance  that  they  are  but 
the  echoes  of  the  divine  judgment.  We  may 
confidently  adopt,  therefore,  the  strong  language 
of  Dr.  Shedd,  and  say :  "  What,  therefore,  con- 
science affirms,  in  the  transgressor's  case,  God 
affirms,  and  is  the  first  to  affirm.  What,  there- 
fore, conscience  feels  in  respect  of  the  sinner's 
transgression,  God  feels,  and  is  the  first  to  feel. 
What,  therefore,  conscience  requires  in  order 
that  it  may  cease  to  punish  the  guilty  spirit, 
God  requires,  and  is  the  first  to  require.  .  .  . 
The  subjective  in  man  is  shaped  by  the  objective 
in  God,  and  not  the  objective  in  God  by  the  sub- 
jective in  man.  The  consciousness  of  the  con- 
science is  the  reflex  of  the  consciousness  of  God." 
The  sense  of  guilt  by  which  the  awakened 
conscience  accuses  us,  speeding  on  into  remorse, 
is  thus  perceived  to  be  but  the  echo  of  God's 
judgment  against  sin.  But  this  could  not  be  if 
an  appeased  conscience  were  not  the  echo  of 
God's  judgment   of  justification.      For,   if    con- 


84  THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

science  could  cease  to  accuse  while  God  con- 
tinued to  condemn,  it  would  no  longer  be  true 
that  an  accusing  conscience  is  the  sign  of  the 
condemnation  of  God,  and  a  sense  of  guilt  the 
reflex  of  His  overhanging  wrath.  Conscience  is, 
therefore,  a  mirror,  placed  in  the  human  breast, 
upon  which  man  may  read  the  reflection  of  God's 
judgment  upon  his  soul.  When  frowns  of  a  just 
wrath  conceal  His  face  the  clouds  gather  upon  its 
polished  surface;  and  surely  when  these  clouds 
pass  away,  and  the  unclouded  sun  gleams  upon 
us  from  the  mirror,  it  cannot  be  other  than  the 
reflection  of  God's  smile. 

We  seem  now  to  have  probed  Paul's  argument 
to  the  bottom.  Man's  conscience  is  but  the 
reflection  of  God's  judgment  upon  the  soul. 
What  satisfies  man's  conscience  satisfies  God's 
justice.  The  presentation  to  faith  of  an  expiat- 
ing and  obedient  Son  of  God,  becoming  man  to 
take  our  place  and  stead  before  the  law  of  God, 
and  paying  the  penalty  of  our  sin  and  keeping 
the  probation  due  from  us,  satisfies  the  human 
conscience.  The  peace  that  steals  into  the  heart 
of  him  who  rests  upon  the  Saviour  in  faith,  and 
the  joy  that  exults  upon  his  lips  as  he  contem- 
plates the  day  when  he  shall  stand  in  Him  before 
the  judgment  seat  of  God — being  but  the  rejoic- 


THE  ARGUMENT  FROM  EXPERIENCE        85 

ing  cry  of  the  satisfied  conscience — is  to  us  the 
proof  that  God's  wrath  is  really  appeased,  His 
condemnation  reversed,  and  His  face  turned  upon 
us  in  loving  acceptance  of  us  in  His  beloved  Son. 
Surely,  then,  this  experience  of  peace  and  joy  is 
an  irrefutable  proof  that  this  and  no  other  is  the 
just  God's  mode  of  justifying  the  sinner. 

And  now,  men  and  brethren,  what  shall  we  do 
in  the  presence  of  these  things  ?  What  but,  first 
of  all,  follow  the  example  of  those  old  copyists 
who  have  transmitted  to  us  the  sacred  text,  and 
transmute  Paul's  appeal  to  the  fact  that  Chris- 
tians have  peace  and  joy  into  an  exhortation  to 
ourselves  to  enter  into  this  our  peace  and  joy? 
By  God's  unspeakable  grace  the  tidings  of  this 
gospel  have  come  unto  us.  How  Jesus  Christ, 
who  Himself  was  rich,  has  come  into  this  poor 
world  of  ours  that  by  His  poverty  we  might  be 
made  rich — it  has  all  been  made  known  to  us. 
And  by  God's  superabounding  grace  in  the  Holy 
Spirit  the  ears  of  our  hearts  have  been  opened 
to  the  blessed  proclamation.  We  have  heard  and 
believed.  So,  then,  "having  been  justified  by 
faith,  let  us  have  peace  with  God,  through  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  by  whom  also  we  have 
obtained  access  into  this  grace  in  which  we  stand; 


86     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

and   let   us   exult   in   the  hope  of  the  glory  of 
God !" 

Has  the  argument  as  we  have  probed  it 
seemed  long — too  long  for  despairing  feet  to 
follow  ?  Has  its  depth  seemed  too  profound  for 
the  plummet  of  weak  faith  to  sound  ?  Blessed  be 
God,  it  is  not  by  following  the  argument  of  the 
apostle,  by  sounding  the  depths  of  his  thought, 
that  we  are  to  enter  into  our  peace ;  but  by 
believing  in  Jesus  Christ  our  Redeemer.  We  may 
drink  at  this  fountain  though  we  know  not  how 
the  bubbling  water  forces  its  way  to  the  surface — 
nor  have  time  to  investigate  it,  nor  minds,  may- 
hap, to  comprehend  it.  Here  is  the  water,  and  it 
is  here  to  drink — living  water — and  whoso  drinks 
of  it  shall  never  thirst,  but  it  shall  become  in  him 
a  well  of  water  springing  up  into  eternal  life. 
Let  us  thank  God  that  He  has  not  suspended 
our  salvation  on  understanding ;  and  even  if  we 
understand  not,  and  our  minds  go  halting  as  they 
strive  to  think  His  thoughts  after  Him,  let  us  yet 
believe  and  enter  into  our  peace. 

And  having  once  entered  into  our  peace,  let  us 
turn  and  look  with  new  eyes  upon  this  life  which 
we  are  living  in  the  flesh.  These  difficulties, 
these  dangers,  these  trials,  these  sufferings,  how 
hard  they  have  been  to  bear!     We  have  deserved 


THE  ARGUMENT  FROM  EXPERIENCE   87 

no  better,  but — nay,  therefore — how  hard  they 
have  been  to  bear!  But  we  have  been  justified 
by  faith — actually  and  truly  justified  by  faith — 
and  now  we  have  peace  with  God.  What  a  new 
aspect  is  taken  by  the  trials  and  sufferings  of  life ! 
They  are  no  longer  our  fate,  hard  and  grinding ; 
they  are  no  longer  our  punishment,  better  than 
which  is  not  to  be  expected — for  ever.  They 
come  from  the  hand  of  a  reconciled  God,  from 
the  hand  of  our  Father.  What  one  of  them  has 
not  its  meaning,  its  purpose,  its  freightage  of  mercy 
and  of  good  ?  Shall  we  not  follow  the  apostle 
here,  and,  as  we  find  that  peace  with  God  has 
stolen  into  our  hearts  and  that  we  are  exulting  in 
the  hope  of  future  glory,  let  that  glory  gild  also 
our  present  pathway?  Shall  we  not  turn  with 
new  courage,  nay,  even  with  joy,  to  the  sufferings 
of  this  present  life,  crying  with  him :  "  And  not 
only  so,  but  we  also  rejoice  in  tribulations,  know- 
ing that  tribulation  worketh  patience,  and  patience 
triedness,  and  triedness  hope,  and  hope  putteth 
not  to  shame,  because  the  love  of  God  hath  been 
shed  abroad  in  our  hearts  through  the  Holy  Spirit 
which  was  given  unto  us ! " 

What  new  light  this  is  to  shine  on  the  weary 
pathway  of  God's  saints !  Says  one  of  these 
saints,  a   follower  of  Paul   in   the   sharpness  of 


88     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

his  afflictions  as  well  as  in  the  comfort  he  drew 
from  them :  "  The  Christian  who  lives  not  accord- 
ing to  nature,  but  according  to  grace,  should 
learn  to  give  thanks  to  God/^r  all  things  in  Jesus 
Christ,  as  His  holy  and  loving  word  commands  us. 
And  that  is  no  more  than  right.  For  if  we 
believe  that  when  we  were  the  enemies  of  God  he 
gave  His  Son  for  us,  to  reconcile  us  to  Himself, 
how  should  we  not  beHeve  that  all  which  He 
appoints  for  us  after  that  not  only  comes  not  from 
His  wrath,  but  comes  really  and  literally  from 
His  love  ?  And  if  God  in  afflicting  us  does  not 
stop  short  at  indifference,  but  goes  the  length  of 
tenderness,  is  it  not  right  that  we  in  receiving  our 
troubles  should  not  stop  short  at  patience,  but  go 
the  length  of  thankfulness  ?  As  for  myself,"  he 
adds,  "  in  my  short  and  scanty  experience  of  the 
life  of  faith,  I  have  often  found  that  if  resignation 
does  not  go  so  far  as  that,  it  does  not  give  to 
our  sufferings  that  sweetness  which  the  Scrip- 
ture promises."  Here  is  the  marvel  of  the 
Christian  life.  Not  patience  in  afflictions  merely, 
but  thankfulness  for  them,  says  Adolph  Monod, 
is  our  duty,  nay,  our  privilege.  Exult  in  joy  over 
them,  cries  Paul ;  rejoice  in  them  because  we 
recognize  in  them  but  the  "  growing-pains "  by 
which  we  are  attaining  "  unto  a  full-grown  man — 


THE  ARGUMENT  FROM  EXPERIENCE   89 

unto  the  measure  of  the  stature  of  the  fullness 
of  Christ,  that  we  may  be  no  longer  children, 
tossed  to  and  fro  and  carried  about  with  every 
wind  of  doctrine,  by  the  sleight  of  man  in  crafti- 
ness, after  the  wiles  of  error;  but  dealing  truly 
in  love,  may  grow  up  in  all  things  into  Him  which 
is  the  Head,  even  Christ." 

And  then  the  future!  We  used  to  look  for- 
ward to  it,  perhaps,  with  nameless  dread,  with 
fearful  expectation  of  judgment.  What  a  glory 
has  been  thrown  upon  it  by  our  new  standpoint ! 
We  are  no  longer  at  enmity  with  God :  we  are  at 
peace  with  God.  Our  conscience  tells  us  that : 
we  gaze  on  Christ  and  His  sacrifice,  and  we  know 
that  God  also  sees  it,  and  seeing  it  cannot  con- 
demn him  who  is  in  Christ.  And  when  did 
Almighty  God  begin  anything  which  He  did  not 
finish  ?  And  such  a  beginning  !  A  beginning  in 
indescribable,  in  inconceivable  love.  Our  hearts 
are  fairly  dragged  out  of  us  in  wondering  love  as 
we  follow  Paul's  a  fortiori  argument.  "For  while 
we  were  yet  weak,  in  due  season  Christ  died  for 
the  ungodly.  For  scarcely  for  a  righteous  man 
will  one  die ;  yet  perhaps  for  a  good  man  some 
one  would  even  dare  to  die.  But  God  commend- 
eth  His  love  toward  us,  in  that  while  we  were  yet 
sinners,  Christ  died   for   us.     Much   more   then, 


90     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

being  now  justified  by  His  blood,  shall  we  be 
saved  from  wrath  by  Him.  For  if,  while  we  were 
enemies,  we  were  reconciled  with  God  through 
the  death  of  His  Son,  much  more,  being  recon- 
ciled, shall  we  be  saved  by  His  hfe." 

What  means  this  peace  in  my  heart  ?  It  means 
that  the  sense  of  guilt  is  allayed,  that  I  am  justi- 
fied before  God  by  the  death  of  His  dear  Son. 
What  means  this  justification  with  God  ?  It 
means  much  more — that  I  shall  be  saved,  by  the 
life  of  His  Son,  from  wrath.  Much  more  !  It  is 
then  much  more  than  certain !  Shall  we  not 
exult  ?  Shall  we  not  say  with  the  apostle : 
"  Much  more  being  reconciled,  shall  we  be  saved 
by  His  life,  and  not  only  so,  but  also  as  those 
that  rejoice  in  God  through  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  through  whom  we  have  now  received  this 
reconciliation "  ?  Do  we  face  the  future  now, 
then,  with  calmness  ?  Ah,  no  !  that  would  imply 
doubt.  Do  we  face  it,  then,  with  courage  ?  No ; 
that  would  imply  danger.  Let  us  with  the  apos- 
tle face  it  with  exultation,  as  becomes  those  who 
rejoice  in  God  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
through  whom  we  have  received  this  reconcilia- 
tion ;  as  becomes  those  who,  having  been  justified 
by  faith,  have  peace  with  God,  through  Jesus 
Christ,  and  rejoice  in  the  hope  of  the  glory  of  God. 


IV 

THE  PARADOX  OF  OMNIPOTENCE 


IV 

THE  PARADOX  OF  OMNIPOTENCE 
«« All  things  are  possible  with  God."— Mark  x.  27  (R.  V.). 

Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  tells  us  that  some 
ideas  are  so  great  that  when  they  once  find 
entrance  into  a  human  mind  they  permanently 
stretch  it,  and  leave  it  for  ever  afterwards  bigger. 
Surely  this  declaration  of  our  Lord's  embodies 
one  of  these  mind-expanding  ideas.  For  we 
must  observe  that  its  astounding  declaration  is 
not  a  mere  hyperbole  of  careless  speech,  the  neg- 
ligent exaggeration  of  a  proposition  which  has 
only  relative  validity.  It  is  the  well-weighed  and 
precise  assertion  of  a  great  fact.  It  does  not 
mean  merely  that  God  is  greater  than  man,  and 
may  accordingly  be  believed  to  be  capable  of 
doing  some  things  which  man  cannot  do.  It 
means  just  what  its  startling  words  declare :  that 
"  all  things " — taking  the  term  in  its  unlimited 
absoluteness — that  "all  things  are  possible  with 
God."  Perhaps  the  conception  is  too  large  to 
find  entrance  into  our  minds  at  all.  Perhaps  none 
of  us  will  fail  to  trim  it  down  on  this  side  or  that 

93 


94     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

in  order  to  make  it  fit  our  several  capacities  of 
belief.  But  surely  if  it  once  gets  into  the  mind, 
in  the  fullness  of  its  meaning,  it  cannot  fail  per- 
manently to  enlarge  it,  to  revolutionize  all  its 
points  of  view,  and  to  raise  it  to  a  higher  plane 
of  both  thought  and  feeling. 

We  may  assure  ourselves  of  the  absoluteness 
of  the  meaning  which  our  Lord  intended  to  inject 
into  the  words  by  attending  to  the  circumstances 
in  which  He  announced  them.  The  rich  young 
ruler  had  come  to  Him,  seeking  eternal  life ;  not 
with  the  simple-hearted  trustfulness  of  a  little 
child,  nor  yet  with  the  self-despair  of  the  publi- 
can who  could  only  smite  his  breast  and  cry, 
"  God  be  merciful  to  me,  a  sinner  "  ;  but,  led  by  a 
rich  man's  instinct,  with  his  thoughts  bent  on 
purchase.  "  Good  Teacher,"  he  asked,  "  what 
shall  I  do  that  I  may  inherit  eternal  life  ?"  Jesus 
had  probed  his  heart  by  setting  a  price  on  future 
blessedness  which  the  young  man  was  loath  to 
pay :  *'  Go,  sell  whatsoever  thou  hast,  and  give  it 
to  the  poor ;  and  come,  follow  Me."  And  when, 
with  his  countenance  fallen,  the  young  man  had 
turned  sorrowfully  away,  the  great  teacher 
improved  the  occasion  for  the  instruction  of  His 
followers.     *'  How  hardly,"   he  exclaimed,  "  shall 


THE  PARADOX  OF  OMNIPOTENCE  95 

they  that  have  riches  enter  into  the  kingdom  of 
God!"  Perceiving  the  amazement  of  His  disci- 
ples, He  repeated  the  declaration,  and  this  time, 
if  we  may  trust  the  form  in  which  the  words  have 
come  to  us  in  some  of  the  oldest  documents,  in 
that  universalized  sense  which  is  attached  to 
them,  in  any  event,  in  the  sequel :  "  Children,  how 
hard  it  is  to  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God !" 
And  then,  reverting  for  a  moment  to  the  specific 
case  which  was  the  occasion  of  the  remark,  and 
devoting  Himself  to  driving  home  the  impression 
which  it  was  His  prime  object  to  make  on  their 
hearts.  He  gave  utterance  to  that  extraordinary 
comparison  which  has  confounded  the  minds  of 
His  followers  from  that  time  until  to-day :  "  It  is 
easier  for  a  camel  to  go  through  a  needle's  eye, 
than  for  a  rich  man  to  enter  into  the  kingdom 
of  God." 

We  all  know  how  men  have  labored  to  rid  this 
limitless  assertion  of  the  human  impossibility  of 
salvation  of  its  necessary  meaning.  Some  have 
thought  to  lessen  at  least  the  extremity  of  the 
affirmation  by  reading  "cable"  instead  of  "camel" 
— under  the  impression,  apparently,  that  as  a 
"  cable "  has  some  relation  to  the  thread  that 
would  pass  through  a  needle's  eye,  extreme  dif- 
ficulty might  be  expressed  by  it  indeed,  but  not 


96     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

absurd  impossibility.  Others  would  have  us 
believe  that  our  Lord  but  "paltered  here  in  a 
double  sense,"  and  had  in  mind  not  a  real  nee- 
dle's eye,  but  some  narrow  gateway  in  Jerusalem, 
through  which  a  camel  could  squeeze  itself  only 
with  difficulty,  and  with  the  loss  of  whatever  load 
it  might  essay  to  carry  with  it.  All  such  emas- 
culating interpretations,  however,  are  shattered 
by  our  Lord's  own  explanation  of  His  words. 
For  when  He  observed  His  astonished  disciples 
— who  certainly  understood  Him  to  assert  an 
unconditioned  impossibility — asking  wonderingly 
among  themselves,  "  Who  then  can  be  saved  ?" 
He  turned  to  them  and  said — what?  "It  is 
indeed  difficult,  but  not  impossible"  ?  "I  did  but 
jest  in  ambiguous  words ;  I  meant,  not  an  actual 
needle's  eye,  but  that  narrow  passage  you  know 
of  in  Jerusalem"?  No,  but  directly  and  emphati- 
cally this  :  "  With  men  it  is  impossible." 

It  was  an  absolute  impossibility  He  meant  to 
affirm.  Men  can  no  more  press  themselves  into 
the  kingdom  of  heaven  than  a  camel  can  force 
himself  through  a  needle's  eye.  His  solution  of 
the  paradox  turns  on  no  attenuation  of  the  mean- 
ing the  language  is  fitted  to  convey,  but  on  a 
lofty  appeal  to  the  omnipotence  of  God.  "  With 
men  it  is  impossible,"  he  affirms ;  "  but,"  he  gra- 


THE  PARADOX  OF  OMNIPOTENCE  97 

ciously  adds,  "  not  with  God :  for  all  things  are 
possible  with  God."  This  special  case  of  the 
impossible  He  meets  by  referring  it  to  the  general 
fact  of  the  divine  almightiness.  This  generalized 
enunciation  of  the  divine  almightiness  is  there- 
fore to  be  taken  in  the  height  of  its  meaning.  It 
is  not  to  be  weakened  into  the  mere  affirmation 
that  God  is  very  strong  and  can  do  things  which 
man  cannot  understand.  It  is  the  ringing  asser- 
tion of  the  true  omnipotence  of  God.  It  is  the 
grand  announcement  that  the  impossible  consti- 
tutes the  very  sphere  of  the  divine  operation. 

Nor  have  the  followers  of  Jesus  ever  feared  to 
take  Him  at  His  word.  The  heathen,  the  unbe- 
liever, the  infidel  might  scoff  at  the  preachment, 
which  has  been  to  the  Greeks  of  every  age  alike 
foolishness,  and  to  the  Jews  a  stumbling-block. 
But  the  offensive  facts  of  this  great  gospel  have 
ever  been  boldly  proclaimed  on  the  faith  of  a  God 
to  whom  nothing  is  impossible.  The  incarnation, 
the  redemption,  the  resurrection,  the  descent  of 
the  Spirit,  regeneration,  the  entempling  of  God 
within  the  heart  of  man — these  things  may  be 
pronounced  by  men  preposterously  impossible. 
Our  fiery  Tertullians  have  shown  no  wish  to 
minimize  their  preposterous  impossibility.  They 
have  rather  drawn  out  in  detail  all  the  incredibili- 
7 


98     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

ties,  all  the  absurdities  that  may  be  thought  to  be 
inherent  in  them.  Could  the  omnipotent  God 
indeed  be  inclosed  in  a  woman's  womb  ?  Could 
the  infinite  God  really  be  pillowed  on  an  earthly 
mother's  breast?  Could  the  omniscient  God 
actually  Hsp  in  the  prattle  of  a  child  ?  Could  the 
self-existent  One  really  die  ?  The  All-blessed 
hang  a  bruised  and  wounded  sufferer  upon  the 
accursed  cross  ?  Do  dead  men  ever  rise  again  ? 
Can  they  whose  flesh  has  been  dissolved  in  the 
corruption  of  the  grave,  take  on  again  the  firm- 
ness and  freshness  of  youthful  life  ?  Can  one  who 
Himself  died  on  a  cross,  between  two  thieves,  be 
indeed  the  Life  of  the  world  ?  He  who  could  not 
save  Himself,  can  He  really  save  others  ?  Can  a 
splash  of  water  on  the  forehead  wash  away  sin  ? 
Absurdities,  impossibilities,  enough  !  "  I  believe," 
cries  Tertullian,  '^though  they  be  impossible." 
And  myriads  have  since  boldly  echoed  his  faithful 
cry. 

Nay,  the  fervid  old  saint  would  turn  the  tables 
upon  the  objector.  "  I  believe,"  he  cries,  "  not 
merely  though  they  be  impossible :  I  believe 
because  they  are  impossible !"  For  the  impossi- 
ble is  the  very  sphere  of  God's  activity ;  and  we 
most  readily  credit  the  divine  interposition  in 
matters  beyond  the  power  of  man.     It  is  human 


THE  PARADOX  OF  OMNIPOTENCE  99 

to  err:  God's  hand  is  seen  when  man  waxes 
infalHble.  Man  can  slay:  when  dead  men  rise 
again  we  must  needs  perceive  the  finger  of  God. 
If  water  will  not  cleanse  the  soul,  then  it  must  be 
God  who  cleanses  it  in  baptism.  When  those 
who  are  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins  walk  in 
newness  of  hfe  we  cannot  choose  but  see  dis- 
played the  power  of  God.  Man's  despair  is 
indeed  God's  opportunity ;  and  the  things  which 
are  impossible  to  man  are  the  very  things  which 
would  be  Hke  God,  which  would  be  worthy  of 
God,  and  which  we  should  expect  God  to  do. 
Tell  me  that  God  has  left  His  throne  to  do  what 
I  am  each  day  doing  for  myself,  and  what  I  am 
entirely  competent  to  do  for  myself,  and  how  can 
I  beHeve  ?  But  tell  me  that  God  has  descended 
from  heaven  to  work  what  were  impossible  to  His 
suffering  creatures — then  indeed  I  may  beHeve 
the  word.  It  is  because  man  cannot  save  himself, 
that  I  may  believe  that  God  has  intervened  to 
save  him.  It  is  because  man  cannot  cleanse  his 
soul,  that  I  can  believe  that  God  will  interfere  to 
cleanse  it.  It  is  because  this  world  Hes  dead  and 
corrupted  in  its  sin,  that  I  can  beheve  that  God 
will  implant  in  it  a  germ  of  life  which  shall  grow 
until  it  leavens  the  whole  mass.  It  is  because 
there  are  so  many  things  impossible  to  poor  puny 


loo  THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

man,  that  our  hearts  bound  with  joy  at  our 
Saviour's  declaration  that  "  all  things  are  possible 
with  God." 

Now  we  must  not  fail  to  take  very  careful  note 
that  the  matter  which  Jesus  had  in  immediate 
mind  when  He  made  this  great  declaration  was 
the  salvation  of  the  soul.  "  Good  Teacher,"  was 
the  young  ruler's  question,  *'  what  shall  I  do  that 
I  may  inherit  eternal  life  ?"  "  Who  then  can  be 
saved  ?"  was  the  astounded  question  of  the  disci- 
ples, to  which  Jesus  directly  addressed  His  reply : 
*'  With  men  it  is  impossible,  but  not  with  God :  for 
all  things  are  possible  with  God."  These  words  are, 
therefore,  a  direct  assertion  of  the  impossibility  to 
man  of  salvation — of  the  "  inheriting  of  eternal 
life,"  of  "entering  the  kingdom  of  God,"  of  "being 
saved,"  as  it  is  variously  called  in  the  context — 
and  the  casting  of  man,  therefore,  for  all  his  hope, 
on  the  God  whose  almighty  power  alone  can  do 
the  impossible. 

Speaking  in  theological  language,  here  is 
then  the  sharpest  possible  enunciation  of  the 
doctrine  of  "  inability."  Man  is  unable  to  do 
anything  that  he  may  inherit  eternal  life,  enter 
the  kingdom  of  God,  obtain  salvation.  These 
things   are   not   merely   difficult   to    him — to   be 


THE  PARADOX  OF  OMNIPOTENCE  loi 

done  at  all  only  at  the  cost  of  some  great  effort, 
some  supreme  expenditure  of  energy.     They  are 
impossible   to   him,  as  impossible  as  it   is   for  a 
camel  to  go  through  the  eye  of  a  needle;  and 
are,  therefore,  not  to  be  done  by  him  at  all.     An 
astonishing    doctrine,    men    are    accustomed    to 
declare — rendering    salvation    hopeless    to    man. 
This,  we  must  observe,  is  just  what  the  disciples 
of  Jesus   said  when    He  announced   it  to  them. 
"And   they   were    astonished    exceedingly,"    we 
read,  "  saying  among  themselves.  Then  who  can 
be  saved?"     We   need   not   be   surprised  that  a 
teaching  which  was  a  "  hard  saying"  to  the  closest 
companions  of  Jesus  still  arouses  hesitation  in  the 
minds  of  men.     And  our  answer  must  still  be  the 
same  which  Jesus   addressed   to   His   astonished 
disciples;    not   an    attempt   to  explain  away  the 
difficulty,  not  a  minimizing  of  it,  but  a  calm  reit- 
eration of  the  fact.     "  With  men  it  is  impossible." 
Jesus   does  not  stop   here  to  tell  us  why  it  is 
impossible  with  men.     He  merely  asseverates  the 
fact.   The  incident  which  gave  rise  to  His  remarks 
and  which  determined   their  form    may,   indeed, 
help  us  a  little  way  into  the  problem.     Obviously 
the    rich  young   man   did   not   lack   any  human 
endowment.     He  had  intellect  to  know  the  com- 
mandments of  God;  he  had  freedom  of  will  to 


I02  THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

keep  them ;  he  had  the  moral  sanity  that  comes 
from  an  upright  hfe ;  he  had  the  beauty  of  char- 
acter that  calls  out  the  love  of  good  men — "  and 
Jesus,"  we  are  told,  "  looking  upon  him,  loved 
him."  Surely  here  is  one,  who,  were  it  possible 
to  man  at  all,  might  be  expected  to  do  what  was 
necessary  to  inherit  eternal  life :  one  who,  if  any 
might,  might  well  ask  in  some  perplexity,  "  What 
lack  I  yet  ?"  Nevertheless  there  was  a  fatal  lack 
— not  resident  in  his  fundamental  being  as  such 
by  which  he  was  a  man,  but  in  his  ingrained  dis- 
position by  which  he  was  the  man  he  was.  And 
this  prevented  him  from  estimating  at  their  true 
relative  values  the  riches  of  this  earth  and  the 
treasures  in  heaven ;  rendering  it,  as  Jesus  says, 
"  impossible  "  for  him  to  enter  into  the  kingdom 
of  God.  And  like  him,  every  son  of  man,  though 
possessed  of  treasures  of  knowledge  and  crowned 
with  the  most  striking  virtues,  will  be  found  to 
lack  the  power  to  put  in  their  relatively  proper 
places  the  things  of  God  and  the  things  of  this 
world.  With  one  it  is  riches,  with  another  it  is 
pride,  with  another  it  is  ease,  with  another  ambi- 
tion, that  has  taken  possession  of  the  soul.  With 
all  there  is  real  inability  to  rid  themselves  of 
"  whatsoever  they  have "  and  turn  single-heart- 
edly to  God. 


THE  PARADOX  OF  OMNIPOTENCE         103 

If  we  probe  deeply  enough  we  shall  find  the 
root  of  this  inability  in  sin — in  a  sin-distorted 
vision,  feehng,  judgment — in  a  word,  in  a  sin- 
deformed  soul,  to  which  it  is  just  as  impossible 
"  to  be  perfect "  as  it  is  for  the  lame  leg  not  to 
limp  or  the  misshapen  pupil  not  to  see  awry. 
And  therefore  theologians  are  accustomed  to  say 
that  the  correct  formula  for  human  inability — 
while  it  certainly  is  not  that  man  is  unable 
to  perform  the  right  which  he  wills — ^just  as  cer- 
tainly will  not  transmute  the  cannot  into  a  mere 
will  not,  but  will  recognize  a  true  inability  even  to 
will  the  right ;  a  true  inability  rooted  in  a  heart 
too  corrupt  to  appreciate,  desire  or  go  out  in  an 
active  incHnation  toward  "the  good."  What  is 
in  itself  corrupt  cannot  but  be  corrupted  in  all  its 
activities. 

Of  all  this,  however,  our  Saviour  says  nothing 
in  this  context.  It  was  not  the  uncovering  to 
His  disciples  of  the  source  of  human  inabiHty  in 
human  sin  to  which  He  was  here  addressing 
Himself  He  was  occupying  Himself  entirely 
with  the  far  more  pressing  task  of  detaching  their 
hearts  from  trust  in  themselves  and  casting  them 
upon  God.  Therefore  He  contents  Himself  with 
the  emphatic  assertion  of  the  bare  fact  of  human 
inability,  and,  fixing  that  with  His  pointed  illus- 


I04  THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

tration  well  in  their  minds,  directs  them  at  once, 
in  strong  contrast,  to  the  plenary  ability  of  God. 
His  sharp  asservation  had  wrought  its  work  by 
arousing  excessive  astonishment  in  the  minds  of 
His  hearers.  The  proof  of  its  working  came  out 
in  their  wondering  demand,  "Then  who  can  be 
saved  ?"  No  explanation  follows :  simply  the  calm 
reiteration  of  the  astonishing  declaration,  "  With 
men  it  is  impossible."  But  therewith  a  call  to 
them  to  raise  their  eyes,  therefore,  above  man : 
"With  men  it  is  impossible,  but  7wt  with  God: 
for  all  things  are  possible  with  God!' 

These  words  constitute,  therefore,  the  core  of  the 
whole  conversation.  To  them  everything  else  had 
been  leading  up.  And  it  was  that  He  might  assert 
them  with  due  force  and  fix  them  in  the  hearts 
of  His  disciples  with  absolute  firmness  that  every- 
thing else  had  been  spoken.  The  great  lesson 
that  the  Saviour  was  seeking  to  read  His  disci- 
ples was  not  that  of  human  inability,  but  that  of 
the  divine  ability.  Human  inability  is  dwelt  upon 
only  that  in  contrast  with  it  the  divine  ability 
might  be  thrown  out  in  strong  emphasis.  That 
man  cannot  save  himself  He  would  have  them 
know;  but  the  great  truth  on  which  He  would 
have  their  minds  rest  was  not  that  man  cannot 
save  himself,  but  that  God  can  save  him.     There- 


THE  PARADOX  OF  OMNIPOTENCE         105 

fore  everything  is  so  ordered— incident  and  sub- 
sequent conversation  alike — as  to  fix  attention 
first  on  the  helplessness  of  man,  and  then,  by  a 
powerful  revulsion,  to  throw  a  tremendous  empha- 
sis on  the  almighty  salvation  of  God.  "With 
men  it  is  impossible,  but  not  with  God :  for  all 
things  are  possible  with  God."  Here,  and  here 
only.  He  would  say,  can  you  establish  your  feet, 
can  you  safely  cast  your  hope. 

It  is  almost  impertinent  to  stop  to  admire  the 
dialectic  skill  with  which  the  desired  impression 
is  made.  Our  hearts  cry  out  at  once  for  the  pre- 
ciousness  of  the  assurance  that  is  given.  We  are 
men ;  and,  like  men,  have  been  and  are  prone  to 
think  we  can  do  "some  good  thing"  by  which 
we  may  earn  eternal  life.  None  know  better  than 
we  how  hard  it  is  to  be  weaned  from  self-trust ; 
how  persistently  we  cherish  the  hope  that  thus, 
or  thus,  we  may  win  for  ourselves  a  title  to  bliss. 
But  none  know  better  than  we  the  inevitable  bit- 
terness of  the  ensuing  disappointment.  It  may 
be  that,  like  the  rich  young  ruler,  we  have  kept 
the  commandments  from  our  youth  up.  It  has 
not  satisfied  our  hearts.  We  still  are  asking  in 
unstilled  longing,  "What  lack  I  yet?  What 
good  thing  shall  I  do  ?"     Nor  is  the  longing  ever 


io6  THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

thus  satisfied.  We  may  have  piled  Pelion  on 
Ossa  in  our  insatiable  search  after  service.  The 
ends  of  the  earth  may  know  our  voice.  And  yet 
we  may  be  pursued  with  the  inextinguishable 
conviction  that  though  we  may  preach  to  others 
we  may  yet  ourselves  be  castaways.  Though  we 
may  have  bestowed  all  our  goods  to  feed  the 
poor,  and  though  we  may  have  even  given  our 
bodies  to  be  burned,  it  profits  us  nothing.  Still 
the  cry  rises  in  our  soul,  "What  lack  I  yet? 
What  good  thing  shall  I  do  that  I  may  have 
eternal  life?" 

We  cannot  still  our  craving  with  such  things 
as  these.  Despair  ever  treads  hard  on  hope,  and 
the  conviction  is  never  shaken  within  us  that  by 
the  work  of  the  hands  shall  no  flesh  be  justified. 
Earth's  altars  are  the  proof  at  once  of  the  uni- 
versal longing  for  salvation,  and  of  the  universal 
despair  of  salvation.  No  offering  has  been  too 
precious  to  be  immolated  in  expiation  of  sin ;  and 
none  has  been  so  precious  as  to  take  away  the 
consciousness  of  sin.  Else  would  they  not  have 
long  since  ceased  to  be  offered  ?  Least  of  all  can 
we  Christians,  in  whom  the  sense  of  sin  has  been 
quickened  by  the  revelation  of  the  righteously 
loving  God  in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ,  ever  still 
our  hearts'   despair  with   any  deed  of   our  own 


THE  PARADOX  OF  OMNIPOTENCE         107 

hands.  If  in  times  of  forgetfulness  we  have  been 
tempted  to  think  well  of  ourselves  and  of  our 
claims  on  God,  it  has  required  but  a  glance  at 
Jesus  and  at  our  hearts  in  contrast  with  Him  to 
awake  us  to  a  deeper  sense  of  our  unworthiness 
and  helplessness.  And  when  the  veil  is  thus 
lifted,  and  we  see  ourselves  in  this  true  light,  our 
temptation  is  not  that  we  may  hope  to  be  saved 
without  Him,  but  that  we  can  scarcely  hope  to  be 
saved  with  Him. 

Let  each  of  us  to-day  look  within  his  own 
heart;  let  each  of  us  permit  to  roll  before  the 
mind's  eye  the  history  of  his  soul's  struggles — 
its  hopes,  its  fears,  its  despairs.  How  much  of  it 
is  a  history  of  doubt,  discouragement,  and 
despondency !  We  know  we  cannot  save  our- 
selves. Our  best  efforts — have  they  not  always 
ended  in  disillusionment  ?  Our  best  hopes — 
have  they  not  always  gone  out  in  failure  ?  Our 
best  determinations — have  they  not  always  sunk 
in  gloom  ?  Salvation — do  we  not  ourselves  know 
that  it  is  impossible  with  men  ?  Is  it  possible 
even  with  God  ?  Then  comes,  like  balm  to  our 
bruised  hearts,  our  Lord's  gracious  assurance, 
"  It  is  impossible  with  men,  but  not  with  God : 
for  all  things  are  possible  with  God."  What  an 
assurance !     We  are  to  trust  in  God  for  the  sal- 


io8  THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

vation  of  our  souls  not  because  their  salvation  is 
easy.  So  soon  as  our  eyes  are  open  to  what  sin 
is,  and  to  what  God  is,  and  to  what  we  are,  we 
know  it  is  not  easy.  We  are  to  trust  in  God  for 
the  salvation  of  our  souls  because  He  is  one  who 
does  the  impossible. 

Do  we  clearly  see  that  salvation  is  impossible 
to  us,  that  a  load  of  guilt  rests  upon  us  which  we 
can  never  expiate?  Our  Saviour  says,  not  that 
we  are  mistaken,  not  that  if  we  will  but  try  hard 
enough  we  may  roll  off  the  burden.  No;  He 
does  not  mock  our  despair.  He  fully  recognizes 
the  impossibility  which  our  hearts  have  found. 
He  says,  ''  It  is  impossible  with  men,  but  not  with 
God :  for  all  things  are  possible  with  God." 
Thus  He  places  the  rock  under  our  feet — the 
rock  of  the  omnipotence  of  God.  To  nothing 
less  than  omnipotence  can  we  trust  to  do  this 
impossible  thing.  But  we  may  well  beheve  that 
there  is  no  impossible  to  it.  And  resting  on  it 
our  fretted  souls  may  at  last  find  peace. 

It  was,  thus,  that  He  might  give  us  hope  in  the 
highest  concerns  that  may  awaken  our  anxieties, 
that  our  Lord  enunciated  in  this  startling  manner 
the  great  fact  of  the  divine  omnipotence :  "  All 
things  are  possible  with  God."     But  the  enuncia- 


THE  PARADOX  OF  OMNIPOTENCE         109 

tion  itself  is  quite  general,  and  we  should  be 
wrong  not  to  take  comfort  from  the  great  truth 
here  brought  home  to  our  hearts,  in  lesser  affairs 
also.  It  is  not  so  set  forth  as  to  suggest  that  it  has 
no  further  application  than  that  which  Jesus  gives 
it  in  this  passage.  On  the  contrary,  this  applica- 
tion is  put  forward  as  only  a  single  instance  under 
the  general  law.  It  is  because  "  all  things  are 
possible  with  God  "  that  we  are  bidden  to  be  of 
good  cheer  with  reference  to  eternal  life,  though 
to  win  it  is  obviously  impossible  with  men.  The 
fundamental  proposition  which  our  Lord  empha- 
sizes, therefore,  is  the  broad  and  general  declara- 
tion of  the  divine  omnipotence.  And  He  but 
teaches  us  how  to  take  our  practical  comfort  out 
of  it  when  He  applies  it  to  calm  our  fears  as  to 
the  possibility  of  salvation. 

In  how  many  other  concerns  of  life  do  we  need 
to  find  comfort  in  a  similar  application !  We 
men  are  but  puny  creatures.  We  prate  about 
being  the  architects  of  our  own  fortunes,  the 
carvers  of  our  own  destinies,  the  masters  of  cir- 
cumstance, who  mold  the  world  itself  to  our 
liking.  We  are  but  as  children  whistling  to  keep 
our  courage  up.  There  is  none  of  us  so  young, 
so  untried  as  not  already  to  have  learned  that  all 
things  are  not  possible  with  men.     In  what  bitter 


no  THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

experiences  this  knowledge  has  come  to  us  let 
each  one's  heart  tell  him  to-day.  Happy  is  he 
who  has  not  been  forced  to  learn  it  in  wrin2-ins;s 
of  soul  and  through  bhnding  tears.  We  are  set 
in  this  world  in  a  vortex  of  forces.  They  beat, 
they  seize  upon  us  from  every  side ;  they  whirl 
us  this  way  and  that,  and  drive  us  headlong  often 
whither  we  would  not.  How  often,  when  we 
would  fain  hew  our  passage  through  them,  we 
stand  blankly  in  the  face  of  the  impossible ! 
How  often,  when  the  fight  has  been  fought  and 
the  last  possible  blow  has  been  struck,  we  stand 
aghast  before  obvious  failure,  and  can  but  hft 
weak  hands  of  prayer  through  the  darkness  up 
to  God !  Ah,  it  is  in  times  like  these  that  we 
may  taste  the  sweetness  of  the  great  assurance 
of  our  Saviour:  "All  things  are  possible  with 
God."  How  great,  how  inestimable  a  privilege 
to  have  the  omnipotent  God  for  our  refuge ! 

And  let  us  not  fancy  that  the  divine  omnipo- 
tence is  not  available  to   us  for  such   thinors  as 

o 

these :  the  grief  that  crushes  our  spirit,  the  fail- 
ure that  blackens  our  future,  the  disappointment 
that  makes  us  at  last  see  that  the  great  design 
shall  He  unfinished,  and  our  lives  be  for  ever 
incomplete.  There  is  abroad  among  us  far  too 
much   of  a   spurious   spirituaHsm,  which   would 


THE  PARADOX  OF  OMNIPOTENCE         in 

look  upon  the  common  affairs  of  life,  as  it  is 
pleased  to  call  them — our  human  joys  and  hopes 
and  fears  and  sorrows — as  beneath  the  notice  of 
God;  and  would  steel  our  hearts  in  a  Stoic's 
indifference  to  them.  Our  blessed  Saviour's  life 
among  men  rebukes  so  cold-hearted  an  attitude. 
He  came  burdened  with  the  great  task  of  the 
salvation  of  a  world,  but  found  no  human  pain 
and  no  human  sorrow  too  trivial  to  pierce  His 
heart  with  sympathetic  pangs,  too  insignificant  to 
call  out  His  helping  hand.  "  He  went  about 
doing  good."  No  sick  appealed  to  Him  in  vain, 
no  weary  came  to  Him  without  finding  rest.  He 
sighed  over  every  human  suffering ;  He  wept  with 
those  who  mourned;  He  bore  the  burdens  of 
all.  In  His  life  He  revealed  the  limitless  breadth 
of  the  divine  compassion  which  grieves  with  all 
the  sorrows  of  men ;  and  in  His  teaching  He 
instructed  us  to  flee  to  God  for  needed  aid  in 
every  time  of  trouble. 

The  very  hairs  of  our  head,  He  told  us,  are  all 
numbered,  so  that  not  one  of  them  shall  fall  to  the 
ground  without  His  knowledge  and  permission. 
If  in  this  world  we  are  immersed  in  a  perfect 
cyclone  of  forces,  driving  us  this  way  and  that, 
there  is  One  ever  by  our  side  who  shall  be  to  us 
"  as  a  hiding-place  from  the  wind  and  a  covert  from 


112  THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

the  tempest."  We  may  be  weak,  but  He  is  strong ; 
and  He  has  bidden  us  to  put  our  trust  in  Him, 
and  promised  that  we  shall  not  be  made  ashamed. 
On  the  omnipotence  of  God  alone  can  we  depend 
in  the  midst  of  the  trials  of  this  life  as  truly  as  for 
the  hope  of  the  life  to  come.  And  what  gives  the 
Christian  his  stability  and  peace  in  the  strifes  and 
conflicts  of  the  world  is  naught  else  than  that  he 
feels  beneath  him  the  everlasting  arms.  It  is  only 
because  he  knows  that  the  God  to  whom  all 
things  are  possible  rules  in  heaven  and  on  earth, 
that  he  can  commit  his  ways  to  Him,  and  be 
assured  that  all  things  shall  indeed  work  together 
for  good  to  those  that  love  Him.  The  Christian's 
strength  amid  the  evils  of  life  is  drawn  from  no 
lesser  source  than  trust  in  the  omnipotence  of 
his  God. 

And  all  this  has  a  very  special  application  to 
the  enheartening  of  those  who  have  become  fel- 
low-workers with  God  in  the  salvation  of  the 
world.  If  disappointment  and  discouragement 
lie  ever  in  wait  for  all  who  would  fain  do  some- 
what in  the  world,  surely  this  is  in  a  very  espe- 
cial sense  true  of  those  whose  hearts  are  set  upon 
the  rescue  of  their  fellow-men  from  the  dominion 
of  sin.     He  who  would  in  any  measure  depend 


THE  PARADOX  OF  OMNIPOTENCE  113 

on  an  arm  of  flesh  in  this  warfare  is  foredoomed 
to  a  very  speedy  despair.  He  may  meet  with 
little  positive  opposition  or  direct  resistance.  But 
oh,  the  dead  weight  of  passive  indifference  which 
he  will  be  sure  to  encounter !  No  wonder  if  the 
plaint  of  the  prophet  early  becomes  his  own : 
"  Lord,  who  hath  believed  our  report,  and  to 
whom  hath  the  arm  of  the  Lord  been  revealed  ?" 
It  will  not  be  strange  if  he  should  experience 
periods  of  the  deepest  depression  as  he  more  and 
more  realizes  that  he  is  crying  into  deaf  ears  and 
seeking  to  arouse  to  activity  dead  hearts.  As 
the  servant  of  the  Lord  God  Almighty  it  will  be 
strange,  however,  if  he  permits  his  natural  sense 
of  insufficiency  to  grow  into  a  settled  habit  of 
despondency,  and  prosecutes  his  work  under  the 
shadow  of  an  unhoping  gloom.  Let  him,  indeed, 
cry,  "  Lord,  who  is  sufficient  for  these  things  ?" 
Let  him  remember  that  even  a  Paul  can  do  no 
more  than  plant,  and  even  an  Apollos  can  do  no 
more  than  water.  But  let  him  remember  also 
that  the  Lord  both  can  and  will  give  the  increase: 
that  the  God  whom  he  serves  is  the  omnipotent 
God  whose  voice  can  wake  even  the  dead,  and 
that  with  Him  "  all  things  are  possible." 

And  when  we  raise  our  eyes  from  the  narrow 
circles  of  our  own  labors,  and  survey  the  progress 


114  THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

of  the  gospel  in  the  world,  what  shall  we  say  then  ? 
Two  thousand  years  have  slipped  away  since 
Jesus  laid  the  great  commission  upon  the  hearts 
of  His  people :  "  Go,  disciple  all  the  nations,  .  .  . 
teaching  them  to  observe  all  things  whatsoever 
I  commanded  you !"  We  shall  not  permit  our- 
selves to  forget  the  enthusiasm,  the  splendid 
courage,  the  high  hopes,  the  steadfast  labor  which 
many  of  His  choicest  servants  have  brought  to 
the  fulfillment  of  this  commandment.  Every  land 
and  clime  has  heard  their  cry  and  has  been 
watered  with  their  blood.  Not  least  in  our  own 
day  have  the  hosts  of  the  Lord  risen  against 
the  mighty ;  have  His  children  flung  themselves 
with  a  holy  joy  into  the  great  task  for  which  the 
Church  exists.  Yet  the  work  still  lags.  As  we 
stand  to-day  and  survey  the  heathen  world,  how 
little  seems  accomplished  !  Surely  we  shall  long 
since  have  concluded  that  the  task  is  impossible 
— that  no  man  and  no  body  of  men  are  really 
competent  to  turn  the  world  upside  down ! 

But  we  cannot  give  way  to  despair.  As  we 
come  to  know  more  fully  the  greatness  of  the 
masses  of  heathendom,  and  the  depths  into  which 
they  have  sunk,  and  the  ingrainedness  of  their 
points  of  view  and  inherited  modes  of  thinking,  we 
may   indeed   despair  of  men.     We   may   readily 


THE  PARADOX  OF  OMNIPOTENCE  115 

enough  perceive  that  no  human  power  can  avail  to 
reverse  the  currents  of  centuries  and  to  eradicate 
the  evil  habits  of  ages.  But  we  cannot  despair  of 
God.  "  With  men  it  is  impossible,"  we  may  well 
say;  but  we  must  quickly  add,  "  but  not  with  God: 
for  all  things  are  possible  with  God."  Resting 
on  the  divine  omnipotence,  we  may  well  be  sure 
that  even  this  desert  shall  blossom  like  a  rose, 
and  may — not  only  in  hope,  but  in  firm  expecta- 
tion— await  the  fulfillment  of  the  promises.  And 
now,  once  occupying  this  position,  how  full  the 
very  air  is  of  promise !  Our  eyes  have  seen  the 
divine  omnipotence  at  work,  here  and  there,  in 
the  midst  of  the  encirchng  gloom.  Souls  have 
been  born  again ;  Christian  lives  have  shed  a 
broad  beam  of  light  into  the  darkness ;  churches 
have  been  planted ;  Christian  virtues  have  flour- 
ished where  erstwhile  only  pagan  vices  were  visi- 
ble ;  the  streaks  of  the  dawn  are  appearing ;  the 
very  air  is  palpitant  with  its  prediction  of  the 
coming  day.  Our  hope  is  set  on  the  God  who 
does  great  things  without  number.  And  this  too 
will  He  in  His  own  good  time  perform — for  all 
things  are  possible  with  God. 

Nor  is  the  matter  altered  when  we  come  nearer 
home  and  contemplate  the  heathen  masses  which 
crowd  the  narrow  streets  of  our  great  cities.     It 


ii6  THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

is  one  of  the  signs  of  our  times  that  the  "  slums," 
as  we  call  them,  have  come  forth  to  the  observa- 
tion of  the  world.  And  as  they  are  brought  more 
fully  to  public  view  the  sight  is  not  encouraging. 
Here  the  Christian  worker  comes  to  close  quar- 
ters with  vice  and  misery.  Here  his  heart  sinks 
within  him  at  the  manifest  magnitude  of  the  task 
that  is  set  before  him.  Here  he  is  gravely  tempted 
to  despair  as  he  realizes  more  and  more  sharply 
the  inadequacy  of  human  methods  and  human 
powers  to  reach  the  root  of  the  evil  whose  dread- 
ful fruits  daily  smite  him  in  the  face.  How  easy 
it  is  to  let  the  great  hope  die  within  us  and  seek 
to  content  ourselves  with  some  lesser  endeavor ! 
This  immense  mass  of  corrupting  humanity — we 
cannot  lift  it  bodily  to  a  higher  plane.  Shall  we 
not  be  satisfied  to  attack  the  fringes  of  the  evil,  and 
be  content  with  some  less,  indeed,  but  at  least 
possible,  accomplishment  ?  There  is,  after  all,  we 
may  say,  only  so  much  spiritual  power  in  the 
world;  why  dissipate  it  in  a  Quixotic  endeavor 
to  reach  the  core  of  the  evil,  and  not  rather 
expend  it  wisely  and  warily  in  correcting  at  least 
some  of  its  more  menacing  fruits  ?  **  There  is, 
after  all,  only  so  much  spiritual  power  in  the 
world !"  My  brethren,  it  is  an  atheistic  lie!  The 
spiritual  power  in  the  world  is  the  power  of  the 


THE  PARADOX  OF  OMNIPOTENCE         117 

omnipotent  Jehovah.  It  does  not  waste  with  use ; 
it  does  not  recoil  before  the  magnitude  of  any 
task.  Rightly  do  you  perceive  such  undertak- 
ings as  these  to  be  beyond  the  power  of  men : 
"with  men  they  are  impossible."  But  it  is  not 
so  with  God :  "  For  all  things  are  possible  with 
God."  Let  us  then  face  with  fresh  boldness  this 
impossibility:  there  are  no  impossibilities  with 
Him  whose  strength  shall  be  in  our  right  arm, 
mighty  to  tear  down  the  strongholds  of  iniquity. 

Ah,  I  know  whither  your  hearts  are  wandering, 
my  brethren !  Yes,  the  blessed  assurance  is  for 
this,  too.  Our  battle  with  sin  is  not  all  with  the 
sin  that  is  without  us.  Christianity  has  come  not 
only  into  the  world,  but  into  our  hearts  as  well ; 
and  the  promise  of  conquest  over  sin  is  not 
merely  for  the  world,  but  also  for  our  individual 
souls.  Does  the  victory  lag  here  also  ?  Are  we 
tempted  from  time  to  time  to  despair  here  too,  as 
we  are  made  to  realize  our  proneness  to  evil,  our 
ineradicable  readiness  to  forget  our  good  profes- 
sion, lay  down  our  arms,  and  give  up  the  fight 
against  temptation  and  transgression  ?  Ah,  who 
of  us  has  not  long  since  learned  of  the  conquest 
over  sin  in  the  heart — that  with  men  it  is  impos- 
sible ?     Let  us  learn  also,  with  reference  to  it,  too, 


ii8  THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

that  it  is  not  so  with  God,  "  for  all  things  are  pos- 
sible with  God."  I  grant  you  that  only  He  who 
does  the  impossible  can  cleanse  the  heart  from  its 
ingrained  corruption,  and  can  free  the  life  from  its 
continual  sinning.  But  the  God  whom  Jesus  pro- 
claims to  us,  in  whom  we  may  put  our  trust,  is 
a  God  who  does  the  impossible.  And  when  we 
are  tempted  to  despair,  and  are  ready  to  yield  the 
battle  with  the  cry  that  it  is  impossible,  let  us 
raise  our  eyes  to  Him  to  whom  there  is  no  such 
thing  as  the  impossible.  And,  believing  His  word, 
let  us  go  on  in  His  strength  to  the  assured 
victory. 

«  O  Lord  God  of  Hosts, 
Who  is  a  mighty  one  like  unto  Thee, 

O  Jah? 
And  thy  faithfulness  is  round  about  Thee  ! 
*        *        *        *        ^        *        * 

Thou  hast  a  mighty  arm  : 

Strong  is  Thy  hand,  and  high  is  Thy  right  hand. 

Righteousness  and  judgment  are  the  foundation  of  Thy  throne: 

Mercy  and  truth  go  before  Thy  face. 

Blessed  are  the  people  that  know  the  joyful  sound : 

That  walk  in  the  light  of  Thy  countenance,  O  Lord!" 


V 

THE  LOVE  OF  THE  HOLY  GHOST 


V 

THE  LOVE  OF  THE  HOLY  GHOST 

"  Do  ye  think  that  the  Scripture  saith  in  vain,  The  spirit  that 
dwelleth  in  us  lusteth  to  envy?" — James  iv.  5.  (A.  V.) 

The  translators  have  found  some  difficulty  in 
rendering  this  verse.  The  form  in  which  I  have 
just  read  it,  is  that  given  it  by  our  Authorized 
Version.  I  am  not  sure  that  it  will  at  once 
convey  the  meaning.  The  Revised  Version,  in 
text  and  margin,  presents  several  renderings. 
Among  them  there  is  one  which  expresses  much 
more  clearly  what  seems  to  me  to  be  the  meaning 
of  the  original.  It  is  this  :  "  Or  think  ye  that  the 
Scripture  saith  in  vain.  That  Spirit  which  He 
made  to  dwell  in  us  yearneth  for  us  even  unto 
jealous  envy  ?"  It  is  a  declaration,  on  the  basis 
of  Old  Testament  teaching,  of  the  deep  yearning 
which  the  Holy  Spirit,  which  God  has  caused  to 
dwell  in  us,  feels  for  our  undivided  and  unwaver- 
ing devotion. 

In  the  context  James  had  been  speaking  of  the 
origin  of  the  unseemly  quarrels  which  even  in 
that  early  day,  it  seems,  marred  the  life  of  Chris- 

I2X 


122     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

tians.  He  traces  them  to  greediness  for  the  pleas- 
ures of  this  world,  and  consequent  envy  toward 
those  who  are  better  placed,  or  more  fortunate  in 
the  pursuit  of  worldly  goods.  Then  he  turns 
suddenly  to  administer  a  sorrowful  rebuke  to  the 
gross  inconsistency  of  such  envious  rivalry  in 
grasping  after  the  pleasures  of  this  world,  for  men 
who  possess  the  inestimable  treasure  of  God's 
love.  It  is  at  once  observable  on  readinsj-  over 
the  passage  that  its  whole  phraseology  is  colored 
by  the  underlying  presentation  of  the  relation  of 
the  Christian  to  God  under  the  figure  of  marriage. 
The  Christian  is  the  bride  of  God.  And  there- 
fore any  commerce  with  the  world  is  unfaithful- 
ness. There  is  not  room  in  this  relation  for  two 
loves.  To  love  the  world  in  any  degree  is  a 
breach  of  our  vows  to  our  one  husband,  God. 
Hence  the  exclamation  of  "  Adulteresses !"  which 
springs  to  James'  lips  when  he  thinks  of  Chris- 
tians loving  the  world.  Hence  his  indignant 
outcry,  "  Know  ye  not  that  love  of  the  world  is 
enmity  with  God  ?"  and  his  sweeping  explanation, 
"  Whosoever,  therefore,  has  it  in  his  mind  to  be  a 
lover  of  the  world  is  thereby  constituted  an 
enemy  of  God."  We  cannot  have  two  husbands ; 
and  to  the  one  husband  to  whom  our  vows  are 
plighted,  all  our  love  is  due.     To  dally  with  the 


THE  LOVE  OF  THE  HOLY  GHOST  123 

thought  of  another  lover  is  already  unfaithfulness. 
On  the  other  side,  God  is  the  husband  of  the 
Christian's  soul.  And  He  loves  it  with  that 
peculiar,  constant,  changeless  love  with  which  one 
loves  what  the  Scripture  calls  his  own  body 
(Eph.  V.  28).  Is  the  soul  faithful  to  Him?  Who 
can  paint,  then,  the  delight  He  takes  in  it  ?  Is  it 
unfaithful,  turning  to  seek  its  pleasure  in  the  love 
of  the  world  ?  Then  the  Scripture  tells  us  that  it 
is  with  jealous  yearning  that  God,  its  lawful  hus- 
band, looks  upon  it.  Does  it,  after  unfaithfulness, 
turn  again  to  its  rightful  lord  ?  It  cannot  draw 
nearer  to  Him  than  He  is  ready  to  draw  to  it; 
and  it  no  sooner  humbles  itself  before  Him  than 
He  exalts  it. 

The  general  meaning  of  the  text  is  thus 
revealed  to  us  as  a  strong  asseveration  of  the 
love  of  God  for  His  people,  set  forth  under  the 
figure  of  a  faithful  husband's  yearning  love  for  his 
erring  bride.  James  presents  this  asseveration  of 
God's  love  for  His  people,  we  will  observe,  as  the 
teaching  of  Scripture ;  that  is,  since  he  was  in  the 
act  of  penning  the  earliest  of  New  Testament 
books,  as  the  teaching  of  the  Old  Testament 
Scriptures.  The  mode  in  which  he  makes  this 
appeal  to  Scripture  is  perhaps  worthy  of  inci- 
dental remark.     "  Or  think  ye  that  it  is  an  empty 


124     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

saying  of  Scripture  ?"  The  question  is  a  rhetori- 
cal one,  and  amounts  to  the  strongest  assertion 
that  from  James'  point  of  view  no  saying  of 
Scripture  could  be  empty.  He  would  confound 
his  readers  by  adducing  the  tremendous  authority 
of  Scripture  in  support  of  his  declaration;  and 
therein  he  reveals  to  us  the  attitude  of  humble 
submission  toward  the  Scripture  word  which 
characterizes  all  the  writers  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment. 

It  was  not,  however,  the  doctrine  of  inspiration 
which  was  then  engaging  his  thought.  He  sends 
us  to  these  inspired  Scriptures  rather  for  the  doc- 
trine of  God's  unchanging  love  toward  His  sinful 
people.  And  we  will  surely  have  no  difficulty  in 
recalling  numerous  Old  Testament  passages  in 
which  the  Lord  has  been  pleased  graciously  to 
express  His  love  for  His  people  under  the  figure 
of  the  love  of  a  husband  for  his  chosen  bride ;  or 
in  which  He  has  been  pleased  to  make  vivid  to  us 
His  sense  of  the  injury  done  to  His  love  by  the 
unfaithfulness  of  His  people,  by  attributing  to 
Himself  the  burning  jealousy  of  a  loving  hus- 
band toward  the  tenderly  cherished  wife  who  has 
wandered  from  the  path  of  fidelity.  Already  this 
representation  underlies  expressions  which  occur 
in  the  Pentateuch,  and  indeed  it  is  enshrined  for 


THE  LOVE  OF  THE  HOLY  GHOST  125 

US  in  the  fabric  of  the  Ten  Commandments  them- 
selves, where  God  announces  Himself  as  a  jealous 
God  who  will  visit  the  iniquities  of  the  fathers 
upon  the  children,  upon  the  third  and  upon  the 
fourth  generation  of  those  that  hate  Him,  while 
yet  He  shows  mercy  unto  thousands  of  them  that 
love  Him  and  keep  His  commandments.  In  the 
later  pages  of  the  Old  Testament  psalmists  vie 
with  prophets  in  developing  the  figure  in  every 
detail  of  its  application.  Throughout  all,  the 
complaint  of  the  Lord  is:  "Surely  as  a  wife 
treacherously  depaiteth  from  her  husband,  so 
have  ye  dealt  treacherously  with  Me,  O  house  of 
Israel,  saith  the  Lord  "  (Jer.  iii.  20).  Throughout 
all,  He  pleads  His  changeless  though  outraged 
love  for  them.  If  He  threatens  that  He  will 
judge  them  as  women  that  break  wedlock  are 
judged,  and  will  bring  upon  them  the  blood  of 
fury  and  jealousy  (Ezek.  xvi.  38),  He  adds: 
"  Nevertheless  I  will  remember  My  covenant  with 
thee  in  the  days  of  thy  youth,  and  I  will  estab- 
lish unto  thee  an  everlasting  covenant.  Then 
shalt  thou  remember  thy  ways,  and  be  ashamed 
.  .  .  when  I  have  forgiven  thee  all  that  thou  hast 
done,  saith  the  Lord  God"  (Ezek.  xvi.  60-63). 
Throughout  all,  thus,  there  throbs  the  expression 
of  that  deep,  appropriating  love  to  which  pun- 


126     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

ishment  is  strange  work,  and  which  yearns  to 
recover  the  fallen  and  restore  them  to  favor  and 
honor.  Its  hopes  run  forward  in  anticipation  to 
that  happy  day  when  the  wandering  one  shall 
listen  once  again  to  the  alluring  words  of  love 
spoken  to  her  heart,  and  once  more  turn  and  call 
the  Lord  Ishi,  "  My  husband."  "And  in  that  day," 
the  Lord  hastens  to  declare,  "  in  that  day  will  I 
make  a  covenant  for  them  with  the  beasts  of  the 
field,  and  with  the  fowls  of  heaven,  and  with  the 
creeping  things  of  the  ground :  and  I  will  break 
the  bow  and  the  sword  and  the  battle  out  of  the 
land,  and  will  make  them  to  lie  down  safely. 
And  I  will  betroth  thee  unto  Me  for  ever ;  yea  I 
will  betroth  thee  unto  Me  in  righteousness,  and 
in  judgment,  and  in  loving  kindness,  and  in  mer- 
cies. I  will  even  betroth  thee  unto  Me  in  faith- 
fulness :  and  thou  shalt  know  the  Lord  "  (Hosea 
ii.  18-20). 

In  its  general  meaning,  thus,  our  text  is  gen- 
eral Bible-teaching.  It  announces  nothing  which 
had  not  been  the  possession  of  God's  people 
concerning  His  love  for  them  from  the  days  of 
old.  Its  message  to  us  is  just  the  common  mes- 
sage of  the  whole  Scripture  revelation,  in  Old  and 
New  Testament  alike.  But  it  has  its  own  peculi- 
arities in  expressing  this  one  great  common  mes- 


THE  LOVE  OF  THE  HOLY  GHOST  127 

sage  of  God's  yearning  love  for  His  people.  And 
possibly  there  may  be  found  a  special  lesson  for 
us  in  these  peculiarities. 

The  first  of  them  which  claims  our  attention  is 
the  intense  energy  of  the  expression  which  is 
used  here  to  declare  the  love  of  God  for  his  err- 
ing people.  He  is  said  to  "  yearn  for  us,  even 
unto  jealous  envy." 

Modes  of  speech  sufficiently  strong  had  been 
employed  in  the  prophets  of  the  Old  Testament, 
in  the  effort  to  communicate  to  men  the  vehe- 
mence of  God's  grief  over  their  sin  and  the  ardor 
of  His  longing  to  recover  them  to  Himself  The 
simple  attribution  of  the  passion  of  jealousy  to 
Him  one  would  fancy  a  representation  forcible 
enough.  And  this  representation  is  heightened 
in  every  conceivable  way.  Even  in  Exodus 
(xxxiv.  14)  we  meet  it  in  the  strengthened  form 
which  declares  that  the  very  name  of  God 
is  Jealous — "  for  the  Lord,  whose  name  is  Jealous, 
is  a  jealous  God  " — as  if  this  were  the  character- 
istic emotion  which  expressed  His  very  being. 
Nahum  tells  us  that  "  the  Lord  is  a  jealous  God 
and  avengeth ;  the  Lord  avengeth  and  is  full  of 
wrath  "  (Nahum  i.  2).  And  in  Zechariah  we  read 
that   the    Lord   is  "jealous   for   Zion  with  great 


128     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

jealousy,  and   He  is  jealous  for  her  with  great 
fury  "  (Zech.  viii.  2). 

But  the  language  of  James  has  an  intensity 
which  rises  above  all  Old  Testament  precedent. 
Not  only  does  the  verb  he  uses  express  the  idea 
of  eager  longing  as  strongly  as  it  is  possible  to 
express  it;  but  its  already  strong  emphasis  is  still 
further  enhanced  by  an  adverbial  addition  which 
goes  beyond  all  usage.  The  verb  is  that  which 
is  employed  by  the  Greek  translators  of  the  Forty- 
second  Psalm:  "As  the  hart  panteth  after  the 
water  brooks,  so  panteth  my  soul  after  Thee,  O 
God."  So,  with  the  thirst  of  the  famishing  hart 
for  water — so,  says  James,  does  God  pant  after 
His  people  whose  minds  wander  from  Him.  The 
adverb  is  one  which  often  occurs  in  the  classics 
to  express  the  feeling  which  one  is  apt  to  cherish 
toward  a  rival ;  but  it  is  not  the  ordinary  active 
word  for  jealousy  which  is  frequently  elsewhere 
applied  to  God  in  the  Scriptures,  but  a  term  of 
deeper  passion  which  is  never  elsewhere  applied 
to  God,  and  which  is  expressive  rather  of  the 
envious  emotion  which  tears  the  soul  as  it  con- 
templates a  rival's  success.  So,  with  this  sicken- 
ing envy,  says  James,  God  contemplates  our 
dallying  with  the  world  and  the  world's  pleas- 
ures.    He  envies  the  world  our  love — the  love 


THE  LOVE  OF  THE  HOLY  GHOST  129 

due  to  Him,  pledged  to  Him,  but  basely  with- 
drawn from  Him  and  squandered  upon  the  world. 
The  combined  expression  is,  you  will  see,  aston- 
ishingly intense.  God  is  represented  as  panting, 
yearning,  after  us,  even  unto  not  merely  jealousy, 
but  jealous  envy.  Such  vehemence  of  feeling  in 
God  is  almost  incredible ;  and  some  commenta- 
tors, indeed,  refuse  to  believe  that  it  can  be 
ascribed  to  Him  and  declare  the  anthropomor- 
phism involved  to  be  altogether  too  extreme. 

Let  us  not,  however,  refuse  the  blessed  assur- 
ance that  is  given  us.  It  is  no  doubt  hard  to 
believe  that  God  loves  us.  It  is  doubtless  harder 
to  believe  that  He  loves  us  with  so  ardent  a  love 
as  is  here  described.  But  He  says  that  He  does. 
He  declares  that  when  we  wander  from  Him  and 
our  duty  toward  Him,  He  yearns  after  us  and 
earnestly  longs  for  our  return;  that  He  envies  the 
world  our  love  and  would  fain  have  it  turned 
back  to  Himself.  What  can  we  do  but  admir- 
ingly cry.  Oh,  the  breadth  and  length  and  height 
and  depth  of  the  love  of  God  which  passes 
knowledge  !  There  is  no  language  in  use  among 
men  which  is  strong  enough  to  portray  it.  Strain 
the  capacity  of  words  to  the  utmost  and  still  they 
fall  short  of  expressing  the  jealous  envy  with 
which  He  contemplates  the  love  of  His  people 
9 


I30     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

for  the  world,  the  yearning  desire  which  possesses 
Him  to  turn  them  back  to  their  duty  to  Him. 
It  is  this  inexpressibly  precious  assurance  which 
the  text  gives  us ;  let  us,  without  doubting, 
embrace  it  with  hearty  faith. 

Another  peculiarity  of  the  text  lies  in  the  clear- 
ness with  which  it  distributes  the  object  of  this 
great  love  of  God  into  individuals. 

When  the  Scriptures  make  use  of  the  figure 
of  marriage  to  reveal  God's  love  to  His  people, 
it  is  commonly  His  people  as  a  body  which  they 
have  in  mind.  It  is,  in  the  Old  Testament,  the 
tj^house  of  Israel "  whom  Jehovah  has  chosen  to 
b&oHis  wife;  in  the  New  Testament  it  is  the 
tinrtiWGbi  I  iwhich  is  the  bride,  the  Lamb's  wife. 
ImUv'idudh^.  as  members  in  particular  of  the  body 
oflilaca^h'iDiobF  the  church,  partake  of  its  fortunes, 
^harejinjithe/ildve  poured  out  upon  it,  and  con- 
tniibfliiSse;  bydheir  dives  to  the  foulness  of  its  sin  or 
toljhfil  bflmitr(^^^xix&5tbriffoliness.  It  is  only  as  the 
meoibprsljaiife/  Hoxl'y)  tRat  the  church  can  be  that 
gk)(PiQ«se)ahm!rch;>iaQtnhiaWfig-  spot  or  wrinkle  or 
arijTiJsiichfi  tWnigpdbiitt  Si^fi^imi)^  without  blemish, 
\i^hibHfGhifisfcife(fiaiJwesidhtPt(^lMimself  at  the  last 
difyu  ^ut-y)thmi^h[th6yirJ&m'dmits^thus  share  in 
tiflqdoqe8ahIdl§la3y)bf3t!he20hllQJh9:Sfec|§  the  church 


THE  LOVE  OF  THE  HOLY  GHOST  131 

itself  and  not  the  individual  which  is  prevailingly 
represented  as  the  bride  of  the  Lamb.  Only 
occasionally,  in  the  application  of  the  figure,  do 
the  individuals  seem  to  be  prominently  in  mind 
(Ps.  Ixxiii.  27 ;  Rom.  vii.  4). 

In  our  present  passage,  however,  the  reference 
is  directed  to  the  individual  and  not  to  the  church 
as  a  body.  It  is  the  individual  Christian  who  is 
in  covenant  vows  to  God,  and  who  is  forgetting 
these  vows,  when  in  the  prosecution  of  his  pleas- 
ures he  strives  and  fights  his  fellow-man,  instead 
of  depending  on  God's  love  to  fulfill  all  his  wants. 
It  is  the  individual  who  is  warned  that  he  is 
guilty  of  spiritual  adultery  when  he  permits  the 
least  shade  of  love  of  the  world  to  enter  his 
heart ;  and  that  the  cherishing  of  such  love  even 
in  thought  is  an  act  of  enmity  against  God.  It 
is  the  individual  who  is  assured  that  God  jeal- 
ously envies  the  world  the  love  which  He  gives  it, 
and  yearns  after  the  return  of  His  love  to  Him, 
the  Lord,  who  "  longeth  for  him  even  unto  jealous 
envy." 

This  clear  individualization  of  the  great  truth 
which  the  passage  enshrines  is  surely  fraught 
with  a  very  precious  message  to  us.  Not  the 
church  merely — we  might  believe  that,  knowing 
ourselves  only  as  unworthy  members  of  what  is 


132     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

in  idea  a  glorious  church:  not  the  church  merely, 
but  you  and  I  are,  each,  declared  to  be  cove- 
nanted with  the  Lord  in  the  bonds  of  this  holy 
and  intimate  relationship,  the  recipients  of  His 
loving  care  as  His  bride,  nay,  the  objects  of  His 
changeless  and  yearning  affection.  Surely  this 
too  is  an  inexpressibly  precious  assurance,  which 
we  would  fain,  without  doubting,  embrace  with 
hearty  faith. 

A  third  peculiarity  of  the  text  lies  in  its  direct 
attribution  of  this  appropriating  love  of  God  for 
His  chosen  ones  to  God  the  Holy  Spirit. 

In  this  the  text  is  almost  unique  in  the  whole 
range  of  Scripture.  In  the  Old  Testament  it  is 
Jehovah,  the  covenant  God,  who  represents  the 
covenanted  union  between  Israel  and  Himself 
under  the  figure  of  a  marriage.  It  is  Jehovah 
whose  name  is  Jealous;  and  whose  jealousy  burns 
unto  envy  as  he  contemplates  the  unfaithful- 
ness of  Israel.  In  the  New  Testament  it  is  pre- 
vailingly Christ,  the  Lamb,  who  has  taken  the 
Church  unto  Himself  as  His  bride ;  and  who 
loves  and  cherishes  His  Church  as  a  husband 
loves  and  cherishes  his  wife.  But  in  our  present 
passage  it  is  specifically  God  the  Holy  Spirit  who 
is  represented  as  the  subject  of  this  envious  jeal- 


THE  LOVE  OF  THE  HOLY  GHOST  133 

ousy  and  this  yearning  affection.  "  Or  think  ye 
that  it  is  a  vain  and  empty  saying  of  Scripture, 
that  the  Spirit  which  He  made  to  dwell  in  us 
yearneth  jealously  ?" 

And  surely  it  is  a  great  gain  from  the  point  of 
view  of  the  Christian  life  to  have  this  explicit 
revelation  of  the  heart  of  the  indwelling  Spirit. 
What  James  tells  us  is  that  it  is  God  the  Holy~ 
Spirit,  whom  God  has  caused  to  dwell  within  us, 
who  is  the  subject  of  the  unchanging  love  of 
God's  people  which  is  expressed  in  these  words 
of  unexampled  strength,  as  a  yearning  after  us 
even  to  jealous  envy.  Surely  this  too  is  an  inex- 
pressibly precious  assurance  which  we  would 
fain,  without  doubting,  embrace  with  hearty  faith. 

And  now  let  us  try  to  realize,  in  the  simplest 
possible  way,  what  is  involved  for  us  in  this  pre- 
cious assurance. 

Primarily,  then,  as  we  have  seen,  James  makes 
known  to  us  here  the  precious  fact  that  the  Holy 
Spirit  loves  us. 

It  is  easy  to  say  that  this  is  so  far  from  being 
a  new  fact  to  which  the  Christian  consciousness 
is  unwonted,  that  it  is  necessarily  implicated  in 
the  fundamental   Christian  postulate  that  God  is 


134     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

love.  As  the  Godhead  is  one  and  cannot  be 
divided,  so  each  person  of  the  Godhead  must  be 
the  love  that  God  is.  The  Father  is  no  more 
love,  and  the  Son  is  no  more  love,  than  the  Spirit 
is  love ;  and  when  we  confess  that  God  is  love, 
we  confess  by  necessary  implication  that  the  Holy 
Spirit,  who  is  God,  is  Himself  love.  But  it  will 
be  far  more  to  the  point  for  us  to  ask  ourselves 
in  all  seriousness  if  we  have  been  in  the  habit 
of  realizing  to  ourselves  the  blessed  fact  that  the 
Holy  Spirit  loves  us.  This  does  not  seem  to  be 
a  form  of  gratulation  in  which  Christians  are 
accustomed  to  felicitate  themselves. 

Our  prayers,  our  jubilations,  thank  God,  also 
our  hearts,  are  full  of  the  precious  facts  that  the 
Father  loves  us  and  the  Son  loves  us.  **  For  God 
so  loved  the  world,  that  He  gave  His  only  begot- 
ten Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  on  Him  should 
not  perish,  but  have  eternal  life."  "  Behold  what 
manner  of  love  the  Father  hath  bestowed  upon 
us,  that  we  should  be  called  children  of  God." 
"  Herein  is  love,  not  that  we  loved  God,  but 
that  He  loved  us,  and  sent  His  Son  to  be  the 
propitiation  for  our  sins."  "  God  commendeth 
His  own  love  toward  us,  in  that,  while  we  were 
yet  sinners,  Christ  died  for  us."  "  God,  being 
rich  in  mercy,  for  His  great  love  wherewith  He 


THE  LOVE  OF  THE  HOLY  GHOST  135 

loved  us,  even  when  we  were  dead  through  our 
trespasses,  quickened   us   together    with   Christ." 
"  The  love  of  Christ  which  passeth  knowledge." 
"  Christ    also    loved   you   and   gave    Himself  up 
for  us  an  offering  and  a  sacrifice  to  God."  "  Here- 
by  know  we   love,  because    He    laid  down    His 
life   for  us."     "Greater  love  hath    no   man  than 
this,  that  a  man  lay  down  his  life  for  his  friends." 
"Who  shall  separate  us  from  the  love  of  Christ?" 
It   is   in   such  texts    as  these  that  the  Christian 
soul    finds    the    heavenly   manna,    on   which    it 
feeds  and  grows  strong.     It  is  with  these  glorious 
truths — that  God  the  Father  loves  us,  that  Christ 
the  Saviour  loves  us — that  we  comfort  one  another 
in  times  of  darkness  and  trial ;  it  is  these  glorious 
truths  that  we  whisper  to  our  own  souls  in  their 
moments    of  weakness    and    dismay.     We   never 
let   them   escape    us.     We    dare  never  let   them 
escape  us.     For  to  lose  hold  of  them  is  to  feel  the 
light  fade  from  life  and   the  dense  darkness   of 
hopeless  agony  settle  down  on  the  heart. 

But  do  we  so  constantly  remember  that  the 
Holy  Spirit  loves  us  ?  Do  we  comfort  ourselves 
so  often  and  so  fully  with  this  great  fact  ?  We 
feel  the  lift  of  John's  appeal :  "  Beloved,  if  God 
so  loved  us,  we  also  ought  to  love  one  another." 
We  feel  the  force  of  Paul's  declaration  that  "  the 


136     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

love  of  Christ  constraineth  us."  But  do  we  feel 
equally  the  force  of  Paul's  similar  appeal :  "  Now 
I  beseech  you,  brethren,  by  the  love  of  the  Spirit, 
that  you  strive  together  with  me  in  your  prayers 
to  God  "  ?  Are  we  equally  impelled  to  a  life  of 
single-hearted  devotion  to  God  by  James'  chal- 
lenge :  "  Or  think  ye  that  it  is  a  vain  and  empty 
saying  of  Scripture,  that  the  Spirit  which  God 
hath  made  to  dwell  in  us  yearneth  after  us 
even  unto  jealous  envy  "  ?  Oh,  does  it  not  too 
often  pass  over  our  minds  as  if  it  were  really  a 
vain  and  empty  saying  ?  The  love  of  the  Spirit ! 
The  yearning,  jealous  love  of  the  Holy  Ghost  for 
our  souls !  May  it  come  to  mean  much  to  us 
and  be  ever  in  our  hearts  to  strengthen  and  com- 
fort them. 

Doubtless  the  comparative  infrequency  with 
which  we  meditate  upon  the  love  which  the  Holy 
Ghost  bears  to  us  is  due  partly  to  the  infrequency 
with  which  the  love  of  the  Spirit  is  expressly 
mentioned  in  Scripture.  It  is  also,  however,  due 
partly,  doubtless,  to  our  not  habitually  connecting 
in  our  minds  the  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the 
salvation  of  men  with  its  motive  in  His  ineffable 
love  for  us. 

We  ascribe  to  God,  the  Father,  the  plan  of  sal- 


THE  LOVE  OF  THE  HOLY  GHOST  137 

vatlon ;  and  to  God,  the  Son,  the  impetration  of 
redemption  under  that  plan ;  and  to  God,  the 
Holy  Ghost,  the  application  to  the  souls  of  sinners 
of  the  redemption  procured  by  the  Son.  We  rec- 
ognize the  necessity  of  the  office-work  of  each 
person  of  the  blessed  Trinity  if  souls  are  to  be 
saved.  And,  if  we  face  the  point  now  and  then, 
we  recognize  that  each  step  in  the  blessed  prog- 
ress of  salvation  is  equally  the  pure  outflow  of 
the  incredible  love  of  God — the  striving  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  with  the  sinner  in  bringing  salvation 
to  fruition  in  the  heart,  no  less  than  the  humilia- 
tion of  the  Son  of  God  even  unto  the  death  of 
the  cross,  or  the  gift  by  the  Father  of  His  only 
begotten  to  suffer  and  die  for  a  lost  world.  But 
we  are  accustomed  in  our  thought  of  it  to  con- 
nect the  saving  work  of  the  Father  and  the  Son 
with  the  love  which  dictated  it.  We  are  accus- 
tomed to  say  to  ourselves  with  never  ceasing 
wonder  that  *'  God  so  loved  the  world,  that  He 
gave  His  only  begotten  Son,"  that  "  greater  love 
hath  no  man  than  this,  that  a  man  lay  down  his 
life  for  his  friends."  And  we,  perhaps,  are  not  so 
much  accustomed  to  connect  in  thought  the  sav- 
ing work  of  the  Holy  Spirit  with  the  love  which 
no  less  dictated  it.  We  are,  perhaps,  not  so  much 
accustomed  to  say  to  ourselves  that  herein  is  love 


138     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

manifested,  that  the  Spirit  of  all  holiness  is  will- 
ing to  visit  such  polluted  hearts  as  ours,  and  even 
to  dwell  in  thcni,  to  make  them  His  home,  to 
work  ceaselessly  and  patiently  with  them,  gradu- 
ally wooing  them — through  many  groanings  and 
many  trials — to  slow  and  tentative  efforts  toward 
good;  and  never  leaving  them  until,  through  His 
constant  grace,  they  have  been  won  entirely  to 
put  off  the  old  man  and  put  on  the  new  man 
and  to  stand  new  creatures  before  the  face  of 
their  Father  God  and  their  Redeemer  Christ. 
Surely  herein  is  love !  But  we  are  perhaps 
too  little  accustomed  to  remind  ourselves  explic- 
itly of  it. 

Yet  what  immense  riches  of  comfort  and  joy 
this  great  truth  has  in  it  for  our  souls !  Were 
the  work  of  the  application  of  Christ's  redemp- 
tion to  us  performed  by  some  mere  servant-agent, 
indifferent  to  us,  and  intent  only  on  perfunctorily 
fulfilling  the  task  committed  to  him,  we  might 
well  tremble  for  our  salvation.  We  know  our 
hearts.  We  know  how  sluggish  they  are  in 
yielding  to  the  drawings  of  the  Spirit.  We  know 
how  slow  they  are  to  forsake  sin ;  how  deter- 
mined they  are  to  cling  to  their  darling  iniquities. 
Ah,  well  may  James  declare  that  our  pleasures 
have  taken  up  arms  and  pitched  their  camps  in 


THE  LOVE  OF  THE  HOLY  GHOST  139 

our  members,  ready  for  "  war  to  the  knife,"  as  we 
say,  with  every  good  impulse ;  and  Paul,  in  like 
manner,  that  the  law  in  our  members  arrays  itself 
in  war  against  the  new  desires  implanted  in  the 
mind  by  the  Spirit,  so  that  in  view  of  this  condi- 
tion he  is  impelled  to  cry  out,  O  wretched  man 
that  I  am,  who  shall  deliver  us  from  the  body  of 
this  death !     Surely  the  heart  of  every  one  of  us 
has    often    echoed   that   cry   of    natural    despair. 
Were   these    hearts    of    ours    committed   to   the 
molding  of  one  who  wrought  with  us  only  under 
a  sense   of  duty  and  not  as   upheld  by  untiring 
love  toward  us,  what  hope  of  the  issue  could  we 
cherish  ?     There  is  no  possible  deed  of  ingrati- 
tude, opposition,  rejection  toward  the  Spirit's  work 
in  us  of  which  we  have  not  been  guilty.     Can  we 
hope  that  He  will  bear  with   us  ?     It  is  only  such 
love  that  He  cherishes  toward  us — the  model  of 
that  love  which  Paul  so  sympathetically  describes, 
that  suffereth  long,  is  not  provoked,  beareth  all 
things,    hopeth    all    things,    believeth    all    things, 
endureth   all  things— that  could  possibly  outlive 
our  shameful  disregard  and  our  terrible  backslid- 
ing.    It  is  only  because  the  Spirit  which  He  hath 
caused  to  dwell  in  us  yearneth  for  us  even  unto 
jealous  envy,  that  He    is   able  to   continue   His 
gracious  work  of  drawing  our  souls  to  God  amid 


HO     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

the  incredible  oppositions  which  we  give  to  His 
holy  work. 

And  here  we  must  not  omit  to  take  particular 
notice  of  another  aspect  of  the  same  great  fact, 
as  James  brings  it  before  us.  Observe  how  he 
here  designates  the  Spirit,  whose  great  love  he 
has  portrayed.  It  is  as  the  "  Spirit  whom  God 
has  caused  to  dwell  within  us."  It  is  He,  the 
indwelling  Spirit,  who,  we  are  told,  yearns  for  us 
with  envious  jealousy  whenever  the  world  obtains 
a  hold  upon  our  hearts. 

God  in  heaven  loves  us ;  and  it  is  because  God 
in  heaven  loves  us  that  He  has  given  His  Son  to 
die  for  us.  Christ  on  the  cross — nay,  rather, 
Christ  who  once  hung  on  the  cross,  but  is  now 
seated  at  the  right  hand  of  God,  a  Prince  and  a 
Saviour — loves  us ;  and  it  is  because  Christ  loves 
us  that  He  died  for  us,  and  is  now  become  head 
over  all  things  for  His  Church,  that  all  things 
may  work  together  for  good  to  those  who  love 
Him.  But  the  Spirit  in  our  hearts  also  loves 
us.  Infinite  love  is  above  us ;  infinite  love  is 
around  us ;  and,  praise  be  to  God !  infinite  love 
dwells  in  us.  See  how  close  the  love  of  God  is 
brought  to  us.  It  is  made  to  throb  in  our  very 
hearts ;    to   be   shed   abroad  within    us ;    and  to 


THE  LOVE  OF  THE  HOLY  GHOST  141 

work  subtly  upon  us,  drawing  us  to  itself,  from 
within. 

In  the  light  of  this  great  truth  we  may  perhaps 
better    understand   the    meaning    of   Paul    when, 
depicting  the  conflict  going  on  within  the  heart 
of  the  newborn  man,  he  declares  that  the  flesh 
lusteth  against  the  Spirit,  and  the  Spirit  against 
the  flesh,  as  if  the  Spirit  were  part  of  our  very 
being — the   only  part  of  our  being  which  lusts 
against  evil,  "  that  we  may  not  do  the  things  that 
we  would."     And  again  in  its  light,  we  may  per- 
haps understand  somewhat  better  that  other  great 
passage  in  which    Paul   declares   that  when   we 
pray  the  Holy  Spirit  maketh  intercession   for  us 
with   groanings   which   cannot   be   uttered.     Our 
prayers  may  be  feeble  because  our  hatred  against 
sin   is  weak.     But  there  is  One  within  us,  who 
loves  us  with  an  imperishable  love  and  hates  sin 
with  a  perfect  hatred ;  and  His  groans  of  longing 
for  our  release  from  the  bondage  of  sin  reinforce 
our  weak   cries.     His   unutterable  groans  for  us 
sinners  are  the  measure  of  His  unutterable  love 
for  us  sinners. 

And  let  us  not  fail  to  gather  the  full  gracious 
meaning  of  the  word  "  dwell "  here.  It  is  the 
word  to  denote  permanent  habitation  in  contra- 


142     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

distinction  from  temporary  sojourning.  God  has 
caused  the  Spirit  of  love  not  to  visit  our  hearts 
merely,  but  to  abide  there ;  not  to  tarry  there  for 
a  season  merely,  tentatively,  as  it  were,  and  on 
trial,  but  to  make  His  home  there,  to  "settle" 
there,  to  establish  His  permanent  dwelling  there. 
"  Think  ye,"  asks  James,  "  that  it  is  a  vain  and 
empty  saying  of  Scripture,  that  the  Spirit  which 
God  hath  caused  to  settle  permanently  in  our 
hearts  as  His  home,  yearneth  after  us  with  jealous 
envy?" 

Ah,  when  God  has  covenanted  with  the  soul, 
It  is  with  no  half-heartedness !  When  He  repre- 
sents Himself  as  having  taken  us  to  Himself  as  a 
husband  takes  a  wife  in  the  bonds  of  a  holy  cov- 
enant, it  is  no  temporary  union  which  He  has  in 
mind.  He  leaves  no  prudent  way  of  escape  open 
to  Himself  With  Him  the  covenant  is  for  ever. 
He  sends  the  Spirit  into  our  hearts — to  make 
His  home  there.  And  it  is  because,  on  His  part, 
the  covenant  is  an  eternal  covenant,  and  He  takes 
up  His  abode  within  us  for  ever,  that,  when  we 
treat  it  with  levity  and  lightly  break  its  bonds, 
He  yearneth  after  us  with  jealous  envy,  and  can- 
not be  content  until  He  has  won  us  absolutely 
back  to  Himself  and  has  eradicated  from  our 
hearts  every  particle  of  longing  for  the  world  and 


THE  LOVE  OF  THE  HOLY  GHOST  143 

its  sinful  pleasures.  What  a  great,  what  an 
enheartening  truth  we  have  here!  God  dwells 
within  us,  dwells  there  permanently,  and  this 
indwelling  God  loves  us,  loves  us  with  such 
chaneelcss  love  that  even  our  insults  to  His  love 
are  met  by  Him  only  with  yearning  after  us  even 
unto  jealous  envy. 

How  deeply  we  are  touched  by  the  stories 
which  reach  us  from  time  to  time  of  the  persist- 
ent love  of  a  father  for  a  wandering  son,  or  of  a 
brother  for  a  sinful  brother,  or  of  a  friend  for  a 
friend  who  has  fallen  into  evil  courses ;  of  how  it 
follows  the  reckless  sinner  into  all  his  wicked 
associations,  enters  the  saloon  with  him,  the 
gambling  hell,  the  brothel;  argues,  pleads,  uses 
kindly  violence,  seeks  every  mode  of  restoration 
possible  with  unwearied  patience  and  persistency, 
is  not  cast  off  by  curses  or  by  blows,  or  by  any 
evil  entreatment,  but  pursues  with  constancy  and 
unfailing  tact  and  tender  perseverance  its  one 
changeless  purpose  of  rescue.  Here  is  the  faint 
reflection  of  the  Holy  Spirit's  love  for  our  souls. 

See  us  steeped  in  the  sin  of  the  world ;  loving 
evil  for  evil's  sake,  hating  God  and  all  that  God 
stands  for,  ever  seeking  to  drain  deeper  and  deeper 
the  cup  of  our  sinful  indulgence.  The  Spirit  fol- 
lows us    unwaveringly  through   all.     He  is  not 


144     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

driven  away  because  we  are  sinners.  He  comes 
to  us  because,  being  sinners,  we  need  Him.  He 
is  not  cast  off  because  we  reject  His  loving  offices. 
He  abides  with  us  because  our  rejection  of  Him 
would  leave  us  helpless.  He  does  not  condition 
His  further  help  upon  our  recognizing  and  return- 
ing His  love.  His  continuance  with  us  is  condi- 
tioned only  on  His  own  love  for  us.  And  that 
love  for  us  is  so  strong,  so  mighty,  and  so  con- 
stant that  it  can  never  fail.  When  He  sees  us 
immersed  in  sin  and  rushing  headlong  to  destruc- 
tion. He  does  not  turn  from  us,  He  yearns  for  us 
with  jealous  envy. 

It  is  in  the  hands  of  such  love  that  we  have 
fallen.  And  it  is  because  we  have  fallen  into  the 
hands  of  such  love  that  we  have  before  us  a  future 
of  eternal  hope.  When  we  lose  hope  in  our- 
selves, when  the  present  becomes  dark  and  the 
future  black  before  us,  when  effort  after  effort  has 
issued  only  in  disheartening  failure,  and  our  sin 
looms  big  before  our  despairing  eyes ;  when  our 
hearts  hate  and  despise  themselves,  and  we 
remember  that  God  is  greater  than  our  hearts  and 
cannot  abide  the  least  iniquity ;  the  Spirit  whom 
He  has  sent  to  bring  us  to  Him  still  labors  with 
us,  not  in  indifference  or  hatred,  but  in  pitying 
love.    Yea,  His  love  burns  all  the  stronger  because 


THE  LOVE  OF  THE  HOLY  GHOST  145 

we  so  deeply  need  His  help :  He  is  yearning  after 
us  with  jealous  envy. 

Among  the  legends  which  popular  fancy  has 
woven  around  the  memory  of  Francis  of  Assisi, 
we  are  told  that  he  was  riding  along  one  day  in 
the  first  joy  of  his  new-found  peace,  his  mind 
possessed  with  a  desire  to  live  over  again  the  life 
of  absolute  love  which  his  Divine  master  had 
lived  in  the  earth.  Suddenly,  *'  at  a  turn  in  the 
road,  he  found  himself  face  to  face  with  a  leper. 
The  frightful  malady  had  always  inspired  in  him 
an  invincible  repulsion.  He  could  not  control  a 
movement  of  horror,  and  by  instinct  he  turned 
his  horse  in  another  direction."  Then  came  the 
quick  revulsion  of  feeling.  "He  retraced  his 
steps  and,  springing  from  his  horse,  he  gave  to 
the  astounded  sufferer  all  the  money  that  he  had ; 
and  then  kissed  his  hand,  as  he  would  have  done 
to  a  priest"  A  new  era  in  his  spiritual  life  had 
dawned.  He  visited  the  lazaretto  itself  and  with 
largesses  of  alms  and  kindly  words  sought  to 
bring  some  brightness  of  the  outside  world  into 
that  gloomy  retreat.  Still  his  love  grew  stronger. 
The  day  came  when  he  made  the  great  renuncia- 
tion and  stood  before  men  endued  with  naught 
but  the  love  of  Christ.  Now  no  temporary  laza- 
retto contented  him.  He  must  dwell  there  as  a 
10 


146     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

permanent  sunbeam  to  the  distressed.  He  came 
now  with  empty  hands,  but  with  a  heart  full  to 
overflowing  with  compassion.  "  Taking  up  his 
abode  in  the  midst  of  the  afflicted  he  lavished 
upon  them  a  most  touching  care,  washing  and 
wiping  their  sores,  all  the  more  gentle  and  radiant 
as  the  sores  were  more  repulsive." 

It  is  not  given  to  man,  of  course,  even  to  com- 
prehend, much  less  to  embody  in  a  legend  like 
this,  all  the  richness  of  God's  mysterious  love  for 
sinners.  But  in  such  legends  as  this  we  may 
catch  some  faint  shadow  of  what  the  Spirit's  love 
for  us  means.  No  leprous  sores  can  be  as  foul  in 
the  eyes  of  the  daintiest  bred  as  sin  is  foul  in  the 
eyes  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  We  cannot  conceive 
of  the  energy  of  His  shrinking  from  its  polluting 
touch.  Yet  He  comes  into  the  foul  lazaretto  of 
our  hearts  and  dwells  there — permanently  lives 
there ;  not  for  Himself,  or  for  any  good  to  accrue 
to  Himself;  but  solely  that  He  may  cleanse  us 
and  fit  us  to  be  what  He  has  made  us,  the  Bride, 
the  Lamb's  wife. 

Could  there  be  presented  to  us  a  more  com- 
plete manifestation  of  the  infinite  love  of  God 
than  is  contained  in  this  revelation  of  the  love  of 
the  Spirit  for  us?     God  is  love.     Does  not  this 


THE  LOVE  OF  THE  HOLY  GHOST  147 

greatest  of  all  revelations  take  on  a  new  bright- 
ness and  a  new  force  to  move  our  souls  when  we 
come  to  realize  that  not  only  is  the  Father  love, 
and  the  Son  love,  but  the  Spirit  also  is  love ;  and 
so  wholly  love  that,  despite  the  foulness  of  our 
sin,  He  yearneth  for  us  even  unto  jealous  envy  ? 

Could  there  be  given  us  a  higher  incentive  to 
faithfulness  to  God  than  is  contained  in  this  reve- 
lation of  the  love  of  the  Spirit  for  us  ?  Are  our 
hearts  so  hard  that  they  are  incapable  of  respond- 
ing to  the  appeal  of  such  a  love  as  this  ?  Can 
we  dally  with  the  world,  seek  our  own  pleasures, 
forget  our  duty  of  love  to  God,  when  the  Spirit 
which  He  hath  made  to  dwell  in  us  is  yearning 
after  us  even  unto  jealous  envy  ? 

Could  there  be  afforded  us  a  deeper  ground  of 
encouragement  in  our  Christian  life  than  is  con- 
tained in  this  revelation  of  the  love  of  the  Spirit 
for  us  ?  Is  hope  so  dead  within  us  that  it  is  no 
longer  possible  for  us  to  rest  with  confidence 
upon  such  love  ?  Can  we  doubt  what  the  end 
shall  be — despite  all  that  the  world  can  do  to 
destroy  us,  and  the  flesh  and  the  devil — when  we 
know  that  the  Spirit  which  He  hath  made  to 
dwell  in  us  is  yearning  after  us  even  unto  jealous 
envy? 

Could  there,  then,  be  granted  us  a  firmer  foun- 


148     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

dation  for  the  holy  joy  of  Christian  assurance 
than  is  contained  in  this  revelation  of  the  love 
of  the  Spirit  for  us  ?  Is  faith  grown  so  weak  that 
it  cannot  stay  itself  on  the  almighty  arm  of  God  ? 
Surely,  surely,  though  our  hearts  faint  within  us, 
and  the  way  seems  dark,  and  there  are  lions  roar- 
ing in  the  path,  we  shall  be  able  to  look  past 
them  all  to  the  open  gates  of  pearl  beyond,  when- 
soever we  remember  that  the  Spirit  which  He 
hath  made  to  dwell  within  us  is  yearning  after  us 
even  unto  jealous  envy ! 


VI 

THE  LEADING   OF  THE   SPIRIT 


VI 

THE  LEADING  OF  THE  SPIRIT 

"  For  as  many  as  are  led  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  these  are  sons 
of  God."— Rom.  viii.  14.    (R.  V.) 

These  words  constitute  the  classical  pas- 
sage in  the  New  Testament  on  the  great  sub- 
ject of  the  "  leading  of  the  Holy  Spirit."  They 
stand,  indeed,  almost  without  strict  parallel  in 
the  New  Testament.  We  read,  no  doubt,  in 
that  great  discourse  of  our  Lord's  which  John 
has  preserved  for  us,  in  which,  as  He  was  about 
to  leave  His  disciples,  He  comforts  their  hearts 
with  the  promise  of  the  Spirit,  that  "  when  He, 
the  Spirit  of  truth,  is  come.  He  shall  guide  you 
into  all  the  truth."  But  this  "  guidance  into  truth  " 
by  the  Holy  Spirit  is  something  very  different 
from  the  "  leading  of  the  Spirit "  spoken  of  in  our 
present  text ;  and  it  is  appropriately  expressed  by 
a  different  term.  We  read  also  in  Luke's  account 
of  our  Lord's  temptation  that  He  was  "  led  by 
the  Spirit  in  the  wilderness  during  forty  days, 
being  tempted  of  the  devil,"  where  our  own  term 

151 


152     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

is  used.  But  though  undoubtedly  this  passage 
throws  light  upon  the  mode  of  the  Spirit's  opera- 
tion described  in  our  text,  it  can  scarcely  be 
looked  upon  as  a  parallel  passage  to  it.  The 
only  other  passage,  indeed,  which  speaks  dis- 
tinctly of  the  "  leading  of  the  Spirit "  in  the  sense 
of  our  text  is  Gal.  v.  i8,  where  in  a  context  very 
closely  similar  Paul  again  employs  the  same 
phrase :  "  But  if  ye  are  led  by  the  Spirit,  ye  are 
not  under  the  law."  It  is  from  these  two  passages 
primarily  that  we  must  obtain  our  conception  of 
what  the  Scriptures  mean  by  "  the  leading  of  the 
Holy  Spirit." 

There  is  certainly  abundant  reason  why  we 
should  seek  to  learn  what  the  Scriptures  mean  by 
"spiritual  leading."  There  are  few  subjects  so 
intimately  related  to  the  Christian  life,  of  which 
Christians  appear  to  have  formed,  in  general,  con- 
ceptions so  inadequate,  where  they  are  not  even 
positively  erroneous.  The  sober-minded  seem 
often  to  look  upon  it  as  a  mystery  into  which 
it  would  be  well  not  to  inquire  too  closely.  And 
we  can  scarcely  expect  those  who  are  not  gifted 
with  sobriety  to  guide  us  in  such  a  matter  into 
the  pure  truth  of  God.  The  consequence  is  that 
the  very  phrase,  "  the  leading  of  the  Spirit,"  has 
come  to   bear,  to   many,  a  flavor   of  fanaticism. 


THE  LEADING  OF  THE  SPIRIT  153 

Many  of  the  best  Christians  would  shrink  with 
something  Hke  distaste  from  affirming  themselves 
to  be  "  led  by  the  Spirit  of  God  ";  and  would 
receive  with  suspicion  such  an  averment  on  the 
part  of  others,  as  indicatory  of  an  unbalanced 
religious  mind.  It  is  one  of  the  saddest  effects 
of  extravagance  in  spiritual  claims  that,  in  reac- 
tion from  them,  the  simple-minded  people  of  God 
are  often  deterred  from  entering  into  their  privi- 
leges. It  is  surely  enough,  however,  to  recall  us 
to  a  careful  searching  of  Scripture  in  order  to 
learn  what  it  is  to  be  "  led  by  the  Spirit  of  God," 
simply  to  read  the  solemn  words  of  our  text : 
"  As  many  as  are  led  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  these 
are  sons  of  God."  If  the  case  be  so,  surely  it 
behooves  all  who  would  fain  believe  themselves 
to  be  God's  children  to  know  what  the  leading 
of  the  Spirit  is. 

Let  us,  then,  commit  ourselves  to  the  teaching 
of  Paul,  and  seek  to  learn  from  him  what  is  the 
meaning  of  this  high  privilege.  And  may  the 
Spirit  of  truth  here  too  be  with  us  and  guide  us 
into  the  truth. 

Approaching  the  text  in  this  serious  mood,  the 
first  thing  that  strikes  us  is  that  the  leading  of 
the  Spirit  of  God  of  which  it  speaks  is  not  some- 


154     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

thing  peculiar  to  eminent  saints,  but  something 
common  to  all  God's  children,  the  universal  pos- 
session of  the  people  of  God. 

"  As  many  as  are  led  by  the  Spirit  of  God," 
says  the  apostle,  "  these  are  sons  of  God."  We 
have  here  in  effect  a  definition  of  the  sons  of 
God.  The  primary  purpose  of  the  sentence  is 
not,  indeed,  to  give  this  definition.  But  the  state- 
ment is  so  framed  as  to  equate  its  two  members, 
and  even  to  throw  a  stress  upon  the  coextensive- 
ness  of  the  two  designations.  "  As  many  as  are 
led  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  these  and  these  only 
are  sons  of  God."  Thus,  the  leading  of  the 
Spirit  is  presented  as  the  very  characteristic  of 
the  children  of  God.  This  is  what  differentiates 
them  from  all  others.  All  who  are  led  by  the 
Spirit  of  God  are  thereby  constituted  the  sons  of 
God ;  and  none  can  claim  the  high  title  of  sons 
of  God  who  are  not  led  by  the  Spirit  of  God. 
The  leading  of  the  Spirit  thus  appears  as  the  con- 
stitutive fact  of  sonship.  And  we  dare  not  deny 
that  we  are  led  by  God's  Spirit  lest  we  therewith 
repudiate  our  part  in  the  hopes  of  a  Christian 
life.  In  this  aspect  of  it  our  text  is  the  exact 
parallel  of  the  immediately  preceding  declaration, 
which  it  thus  takes  up  and  repeats :  "  But  if  any  one 
hath  not  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  that  one  is  not  His." 


THE  LEADING  OF  THE  SPIRIT  155 

It  is  obviously  a  mistake,  therefore,  to  look 
upon  the  claim  to  be  led  by  God's  Spirit  as  an 
evidence  of  spiritual  pride.  It  is  rather  a  mark 
of  spiritual  humility.  This  leading  of  the  Spirit 
is  not  some  peculiar  gift  reserved  for  special  sanc- 
tity and  granted  as  the  reward  of  high  merit 
alone.  It  is  the  common  gift  poured  out  on  all 
God's  children  to  meet  their  common  need,  and 
is  the  evidence,  therefore,  of  their  common  weak- 
ness and  their  common  unworthiness.  It  is  not 
the  reward  of  special  spiritual  attainment;  it  is 
the  condition  of  all  spiritual  attainment.  In  its 
absence  we  should  remain  hopelessly  the  children 
of  the  devil ;  by  its  presence  alone  are  we  con- 
stituted the  children  of  God.  It  is  only  because 
of  the  Spirit  of  God  shed  abroad  in  our  hearts 
that  we  are  able  to  cry,  Abba,  Father. 

We  observe,  therefore,  next  that  the  end  in 
view  in  the  spiritual  leading  of  which  Paul  speaks 
is  not  to  enable  us  to  escape  the  difficulties,  dan- 
gers, trials  or  sufferings  of  this  life,  but  specific- 
ally to  enable  us  to  conquer  sin. 

Had  the  former  been  its  object,  it  might  indeed 
have  been  a  special  grace  granted  to  a  select  few 
of  God's  children,  and  its  possession  might  have 
separated  them  from  among  their  brethren  as  the 


156     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

peculiar  favorites  of  the  Deity.  Since,  however, 
the  latter  is  its  object,  it  is  the  appropriate  gift  of 
all  those  who  are  sinners,  and  is  the  condition  of 
their  conquest  over  the  least  of  their  sins.  In 
the  preceding  context  Paul  discovers  to  us  our 
inherent  sin  in  all  its  festering  rottenness.  But 
he  discovers  to  us  also  the  Spirit  of  God  as  dwell- 
ing in  us  and  forming  the  principle  of  a  new  life. 
It  is  by  the  presence  of  the  Spirit  within  us  alone 
that  the  bondage  in  which  we  are  by  nature  held 
to  sin  is  broken;  that  we  are  emancipated  from 
sin  and  are  no  longer  debtors  to  live  according 
to  the  flesh.  This  new  principle  of  life  reveals 
itself  in  our  consciousness  as  a  power  claiming 
regulative  influence  over  our  actions ;  leading  us, 
in  a  word,  into  holiness. 

If  we  consider  our  life  of  new  obedience  from 
the  point  of  view  of  our  own  activities,  we  may 
speak  of  ourselves  as  fighting  the  good  fight  of 
faith ;  a  deeper  view  reveals  it  as  the  work  of 
God  in  us  by  His  Spirit.  When  we  consider 
this  Divine  work  within  our  souls  with  refer- 
ence to  the  end  of  the  whole  process  we  call 
it  sanctification;  when  we  consider  it  with  refer- 
ence to  the  process  itself,  as  we  struggle  on  day 
by  day  in  the  somewhat  devious  and  always 
thorny  pathway  of  life,  we  call  it  spiritual  lead- 


THE  LEADING  OF  THE  SPIRIT  157 

ing.  Thus  the  "  leading  of  the  Holy  Spirit "  is 
revealed  to  us  as  simply  a  synonym  for  sanctifica- 
tion  when  looked  at  from  the  point  of  view  of  the 
pathway  itself,  through  which  we  are  led  by  the 
Spirit  as  we  more  and  more  advance  toward  that 
conformity  to  the  image  of  His  Son,  which  God 
has  placed  before  us  as  our  great  goal. 

It  is  obvious  at  once  then  how  grossly  it  is 
misconceived  when  it  is  looked  upon  as  a  pecu- 
liar guidance  granted  by  God  to  His  eminent  ser- 
vants in  order  to  insure  their  worldly  safety, 
worldly  comfort,  even  worldly  profit.  The  lead- 
ing of  the  Holy  Spirit  is  always  for  good ;  but  it 
is  not  for  all  goods,  but  specifically  for  spiritual 
and  eternal  good.  I  do  not  say  that  the  good 
man  may  not,  by  virtue  of  his  very  goodness,  be 
saved  from  many  of  the  sufferings  of  this  life  and 
from  many  of  the  failures  of  this  life.  How  many 
of  the  evils  and  trials  of  life  are  rooted  in  specific 
sins  we  can  never  know.  How  often  even  failure 
in  business  may  be  traced  directly  to  lack  of  bus- 
iness integrity  rather  than  to  pressure  of  circum- 
stances or  business  incompetency  is  mercifully 
hidden  from  us.  Nor  do  I  say  that  the  gracious 
Lord  has  no  care  for  the  secular  life  of  His 
people.  But  it  surely  is  obvious  that  the  leading 
of  the  Spirit  spoken  of  in  the  text  is  not  in  order 


158     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

to  guide  men  into  secular  goods ;  and  it  is  not  to 
be  inferred  to  be  absent  when  trials  come — suffer- 
ings, losses,  despair  of  this  world.  It  is  specific- 
ally in  order  to  guide  them  into  eternal  good ; 
to  make  them  not  prosperous,  not  free  from  care 
or  suffering,  but  holy,  free  from  sin.  It  is  not 
given  us  to  save  us  from  the  consequences  of  our 
business  carelessnesses  or  incompetences,  to  take 
the  place  of  ordinary  prudence  in  the  conduct  of 
our  affairs.  It  is  not  given  us  to  preserve  us  from 
the  necessity  of  strenuous  preparation  for  the 
tasks  before  us  or  from  the  trouble  of  rendering 
decision  in  the  difficult  crises  of  life.  It  is  given 
specifically  to  save  us  from  sinning ;  to  lead  us  in 
the  paths  of  holiness  and  truth. 

Accordingly,  we  observe  next  that  the  spiritual 
leading  of  which  Paul  speaks  is  not  something 
sporadic,  given  only  on  occasion  of  some  special 
need  of  supernatural  direction,  but  something 
continuous,  affecting  all  the  operations  of  a  Chris- 
tian man's  activities  throughout  every  moment 
of  his  life. 

It  has  but  one  end  in  view,  the  saving  from  sin, 
the  leading  into  holiness  ;  but  it  affects  every 
single  activity  of  every  kind — physical,  intellectual, 
and  spiritual — bending  it  toward  that  end.     Were 


THE  LEADING  OF  THE  SPIRIT  159 

it  directed  toward  other  ends,  we  might  indeed 
expect  it  to  be  more  sporadic.  Were  it  simply  the 
omniscence  of  God  placed  at  the  disposal  of  His 
favorites,  which  they  might  avail  themselves  of  in 
times  of  perplexity  and  doubt,  it  might  well  be 
occasional  and  temporary.  But  since  it  is  nothing 
other  than  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation,  it 
must  needs  abide  with  the  sinner,  work  constantly 
upon  him,  enter  into  all  his  acts,  condition  all  his 
doings,  and  lead  him  thus  steadily  onward  toward 
the  one  great  goal. 

It  is  easy  to  estimate,  then,  what  a  perversion 
it  is  of  the  "leading  of  the  Spirit"  when  this  great 
saving  energy  of  God,  working  continually  in  the 
sinner,  is  forgotten,  and  the  name  is  accorded  to 
some  fancied  sporadic  supernatural  direction  in 
the  common  offices  of  life.  Let  us  not  forget, 
indeed,  the  reality  of  providential  guidance,  or 
imagine  that  God's  greatness  makes  Him  careless 
of  the  least  concerns  of  His  children.  But  let  us 
much  more  not  forget  that  the  great  evil  under 
which  we  are  suffering  is  sin,  and  that  the  great 
promise  which  has  been  given  us  is  that  we  shall 
not  be  left  to  wander,  self-directed,  in  the  paths 
of  sin  into  which  our  feet  have  strayed,  but  that 
the  Spirit  of  holiness  shall  dwell  within  us,  break- 
ing our  bondage  and  leading  us  into  that  other 


i6o     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

pathway  of  good   works,  which   God   has  afore 
prepared  that  we  should  walk  in  them. 

All  of  this  will  be  powerfully  supported  and 
the  subject  perhaps  somewhat  further  elucidated 
if  we  will  seek  now  to  penetrate  a  little  deeper 
into  the  inmost  nature  of  the  work  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  which  Paul  calls  here  a  "  leading,"  by  attend- 
ing more  closely  to  the  term  which  he  has  chosen 
to  designate  it  when  he  calls  it  by  this  name. 
This  term,  as  those  skilled  in  such  things  tell  us, 
is  one  which  throws  emphasis  on  three  matters : 
on  the  extraneousness  of  the  influence  under 
which  the  movement  suggested  takes  place ;  on 
the  completeness  of  the  control  which  this  influ- 
ence exerts  over  the  action  of  the  subject  led; 
and  on  the  pathway  over  which  the  resultant 
progress  is  made.  Let  us  glance  at  each  of  these 
matters  in  turn. 

One  is  not  led  when  he  goes  his  own  way.  It 
is  only  when  an  influence  distinct  from  ourselves 
determines  our  movements  that  we  can  properly 
be  said  to  be  led.  When  Paul,  therefore,  declares 
that  the  sons  of  God  are  ''  led  by  the  Spirit  of 
God,"  he  emphasizes,  first  of  all,  the  distinction 
between  the  leading  Spirit  and  the  led  sons  of 


THE  LEADING  OF  THE  SPIRIT  i6i 

God.  As  much  as  this  he  declares  with  great 
emphasis — that  there  is  a  power  within  us,  not 
ourselves,  that  makes  for  righteousness.  And  he 
identifies  this  extraneous  power  with  the  Spirit  of 
God.  The  whole  preceding  context  accentuates 
this  distinction,  inasmuch  as  its  entire  drift  is  to 
paint  the  conflict  which  is  going  on  within  us 
between  our  native  impulses  which  make  for  sin, 
and  the  intruded  power  which  makes  for  right- 
eousness. Before  all  else,  then,  spiritual  leading 
consists  in  an  influence  over  our  actions  of  a 
power  which  is  not  to  be  identified  with  ourselves 
— either  as  by  nature  or  as  renewed — but  which 
is  declared  by  the  apostle  Paul  to  be  none  other 
than  the  Spirit  of  God  Himself 

We  thoroughly  misconceive  it,  therefore,  if  we 
think  of  spiritual  leading  as  only  a  conquest  of 
our  lower  impulses  by  our  higher  nature,  or  even 
as  a  conquest  by  our  regenerated  nature  of  the 
remnants  of  the  old  man  lingering  in  our  mem- 
bers. Both  of  these  conquests  are  realities  of  the 
Christian  life.  The  child  of  God  will  never  be 
content  to  be  the  slave  of  his  lower  impulses,  but 
will  ever  strive,  and  with  ultimate  success,  to  live 
on  the  plane  of  his  higher  endowments.  The 
regenerated  soul  will  never  abide  the  remnants  of 
sin  that  vex  his  members,  but  will  have  no  rest 
II 


i62     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

until  he  eradicates  them  to  the  last  shred.  But 
these  victories  of  our  nobler  selves — natural  or 
gracious — over  what  is  unworthy  within  us,  do 
not  so  much  constitute  the  essence  of  spiritual 
leading  as  they  are  to  be  counted  among  its  fruits. 
Spiritual  leading  itself  is  not  a  leading  of  ourselves 
by  ourselves,  but  a  leading  of  us  by  the  Holy 
Ghost.  The  declaration  of  its  reahty  is  the  declar- 
ation of  the  reality  of  the  indwelling  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  in  the  heart,  and  of  the  subjection  of  the 
activities  of  the  Christian  heart  and  life  to  the 
control  of  this  extraneous  power.  He  that  is  led 
by  the  Spirit  of  God  is  not  led  by  himself  or  by  any 
element  of  his  own  nature,  native  or  acquired,  but 
is  led  by  the  Holy  Ghost.  He  has  ceased  to  be 
what  the  Scriptures  call  a  "  natural  man,"  and  has 
become  what  they  call  a  "spiritual  man";  that  is, 
to  translate  these  terms  accurately,  he  has  ceased 
to  be  a  self-led  man  and  has  become  a  Spirit- 
led  man — a  man  led  and  determined  in  all  his 
activities  by  the  Holy  Ghost.  It  is  this  extrane- 
ousness  of  the  source  of  these  activities  which 
Paul  emphasizes  first  of  all  when  he  declares  that 
the  sons  of  God  are  led  by  the  Spirit  of  God. 

The  second  matter  which  is  emphasized  by  his 
declaration  is  the  controlling  power  of  the  influ- 


THE  LEADING  OF  THE  SPIRIT  163 

ence  exerted  on  the  activities  of  God's  children 
by  the  Holy  Spirit.  One  is  not  led,  in  the  sense 
of  our  text,  when  he  is  merely  directed  in  the  way 
he  should  go,  guided,  as  we  may  say,  by  one  who 
points  out  the  path  and  leads  only  by  going  before 
in  it ;  or  when  he  is  merely  upheld  while  he  him- 
self finds  or  directs  himself  to  the  goal. 

The  Greek  language  possesses  words  which 
precisely  express  these  ideas,  but  the  apostle 
passes  over  these  and  selects  a  term  which  ex- 
presses determining  control  over  our  actions. 
Some  of  these  other  terms  are  used  elsewhere  in 
the  Scriptures  to  set  forth  appropriate  actions  of 
the  Spirit  with  reference  to  the  people  of  God. 
For  example,  our  Lord  promised  His  disciples 
that  when  the  Spirit  of  Truth  should  come,  He 
should  guide  them  into  all  the  truth.  Here  a 
term  is  employed  which  does  not  express  con- 
trolling leading,  but  what  we  may  perhaps  call 
suggestive  leading.  It  is  used  frequently  in  the 
Greek  Old  Testament  of  God's  guidance  of  His 
people,  and  once,  at  least,  of  the  Holy  Spirit : 
"Teach  us  to  do  Thy  will,  for  Thou  art  my 
God ;  let  Thy  good  Spirit  guide  us  in  the  land  of 
uprightness."  But  the  term  which  Paul  employs 
in  our  text  is  a  much  stronger  one  than  this.  It 
is  not  the  proper  word  to  use  of  a  guide  who 


1 64  THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

goes  before  and  shows  the  way,  or  even  of  a 
commanding  general,  say,  who  leads  an  army. 
It  has  stamped  upon  it  rather  the  conception  of 
the  exertion  of  a  power  of  control  over  the  actions 
of  its  subject,  which  the  strength  of  the  led  one 
is  insufficient  to  withstand. 

This  is  the  proper  word  to  use,  for  example,  when 
speaking  of  leading  animals,  as  when  our  Lord 
sent  His  disciples  to  find  the  ass  and  her  colt  and 
commanded  them  "  to  loose  them  and  lead  them 
to  Him"  (Matt.  xxi.  2);  or  as  when  Isaiah  declares 
in  the  Scripture  which  was  being  read  by  the 
Eunuch  of  Ethiopia  whom  Philip  was  sent  to 
meet  in  the  desert,  "  He  was  led  as  a  sheep  to  the 
slaughter."  It  is  applied  to  the  conveying  of  sick 
folk — as  men  who  are  not  in  a  condition  to  control 
their  own  movements ;  as,  for  example,  when  the 
good  Samaritan  set  the  wounded  traveler  on  his 
own  beast  and  led  him  to  an  inn  and  took  care  of 
him  (Luke  x.  34) ;  or  when  Christ  commanded 
the  bhnd  man  of  Jericho  "to  be  led  unto  Him" 
(Luke  xviii.  40).  It  is  most  commonly  used  of 
the  enforced  movements  of  prisoners ;  as  when 
we  are  told  that  they  led  Jesus  to  Caiaphas  to 
the  palace  (John  xviii.  28) ;  or  when  we  are  told 
that  they  seized  Stephen  and  led  him  into  the 
council  (Acts  vi.  12);  or  that  Paul  was  provided 


THE  LEADING  OF  THE  SPIRIT  165 

with  letters  to  Damascus  unto  the  synagogues, 
"  that  if  he  found  any  that  were  of  the  Way,  he 
might  lead  them  bound  to  Jerusalem "  (Acts 
ix.  2).  In  a  word,  though  the  term  may,  of 
course,  sometimes  be  used  when  the  idea  of  force 
retires  somewhat  into  the  background,  and  is 
commonly  so  used  when  it  is  transferred  from 
external  compulsion  to  internal  influence — as,  for 
example,  when  we  are  told  that  Barnabas  took 
Paul  and  led  him  to  the  apostles  (Acts  ix.  2),  and 
that  Andrew  led  Simon  unto  Jesus  (John  i.  42) — 
yet  the  proper  meaning  of  the  word  includes  the 
idea  of  control,  and  the  implication  of  prevailing 
determination  of  action  never  wholly  leaves  it. 

Its  use  by  Paul  on  the  present  occasion  must 
be  held,  therefore,  to  emphasize  the  controlling 
influence  which  the  Holy  Spirit  exercises  over  the 
activities  of  the  children  of  God  in  His  leading  of 
them.  That  extraneous  power  which  has  come 
into  our  hearts  making  for  righteousness,  has  not 
come  into  them  merely  to  suggest  to  us  what  we 
should  do — merely  to  point  out  to  us  from  within 
the  way  in  which  we  ought  to  walk — merely  to 
rouse  within  us  and  keep  before  our  minds  certain 
considerations  and  inducements  toward  righteous- 
ness. It  has  come  within  us  to  take  the  helm 
and  to  direct  the  motion  of  our  frail  barks  on  the 


1 66     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

troubled  sea  of  life.  It  has  taken  hold  of  us  as  a 
man  seizes  the  halter  of  an  ox  to  lead  it  in  the 
way  which  he  would  have  it  go ;  as  an  attendant 
conducts  the  sick  in  leading  him  to  the  physician ; 
as  the  jailer  grasps  the  prisoner  to  lead  him  to 
trial  or  to  the  jail.  We  were  slaves  to  sin;  a 
new  power  has  entered  into  us  to  break  that 
bondage — but  not  that  we  should  be  set,  rudder- 
less, adrift  on  the  ocean  of  life;  but  that  we  should 
be  powerfully  directed  on  a  better  course,  leading 
to  a  better  harbor. 

Accordingly  Paul,  when  he  declares  that  we 
have  been  emancipated  from  the  law  of  sin  and 
of  death  by  the  advent  of  the  law  of  the  Spirit  of 
life  in  Christ  Jesus  into  our  hearts,  does  not  leave 
it  so,  as  if  emancipation  were  all.  He  adds,  "Ac- 
cordingly then,  we  are  bound."  Though  eman- 
cipated, still  bound  !  We  are  bound ;  but  no  longer 
to  the  flesh,  to  live  after  the  flesh,  but  to  the 
Spirit,  to  live  after  the  Spirit.  He  hastens,  indeed, 
to  point  out  that  this  is  no  hard  bondage,  but  a 
happy  one ;  that  sons  is  a  name  better  fitted  to 
express  its  circumstances  than  "  slaves  " — that  it 
includes  childship  and  heirship  to  God  and  with 
Christ.  But  all  this  blessed  assurance  operates  to 
exhibit  the  happy  estate  of  the  service  into  which 
we   have  been  brought,  rather  than  to  alter  the 


THE  LEADING  OF  THE  SPIRIT  167 

nature  of  it  as  service.  The  essence  of  the  new 
relation  is  that  it  also  is  one  of  control,  though  a 
control  by  a  beneficent  and  not  a  cruel  power. 
We  do  not  at  all  catch  Paul's  meaning  therefore, 
unless  we  perceive  the  strong  emphasis  which  lies 
on  this  fact — that  those  who  are  led  by  the  Spirit 
of  God  are  under  the  control  of  the  Spirit  of  God. 
The  extraneous  power  which  has  come  into  us, 
making  for  righteousness,  comes  as  a  controlling 
power.  The  children  of  God  are  not  the  directors 
of  their  own  activities ;  there  is  One  that  dwells 
in  them  who  is  not  merely  their  guide,  but  their 
governor  and  strong  regulator.  They  go,  not 
where  they  would,  but  where  He  would ;  they  do 
not  what  they  might  wish,  but  what  He  determines. 
This  it  is  to  be  led  by  the  Spirit  of  God. 

It  is  to  be  observed,  however,  on  the  other 
hand,  that  although  Paul  uses  a  term  here  which 
emphasizes  the  controlling  influence  of  the  Spirit 
of  God  over  the  activities  of  God's  children,  he 
does  not  represent  the  action  of  the  Spirit  as  a 
substitute  for  their  activities.  If  one  is  not  led,  in 
the  sense  of  our  text,  when  he  is  merely  guided, 
it  is  equally  true  that  one  is  not  led  when  he  is 
carried.  The  animal  that  is  led  by  the  attendant, 
the  blind  man  that  is  led  to  Christ,  the  prisoner 


1 68  THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

that  is  led  to  jail — each  is  indeed  under  the  con- 
trol of  his  leader,  who  alone  determines  the  goal 
and  the  pathway ;  but  each  also  proceeds  on  that 
pathway  and  to  that  goal  by  virtue  of  his  own 
powers  of  locomotion. 

There  was  a  word  lying  at  the  apostle's  hand 
by  which  he  could  have  expressed  the  idea  that 
God's  children  are  borne  by  the  Spirit's  power  to 
their  appointed  goal  of  holiness,  apart  from  any 
activities  of  their  own,  had  He  elected  to  do  so. 
It  is  employed  by  Peter  when  he  would  inform  us 
how  God  gave  His  message  of  old  to  His  prophets. 
"  For  no  prophecy,"  he  tells  us,  "  ever  came  by 
the  will  of  man :  but  men  spake  from  God,  being 
borne  by  the  Holy  Ghost."  This  term,  "  borne," 
emphasizes,  as  its  fundamental  thought,  the  fact 
that  all  the  power  productive  of  the  motion  sug- 
gested is  inherent  in,  and  belongs  entirely  to,  the 
mover.  Had  Paul  intended  to  say  that  God's 
children  are  taken  up  as  it  were  in  the  Spirit's 
arms  and  borne,  without  effort  on  their  own  part, 
to  their  destined  goal,  he  would  have  used  this 
word.  That  he  has  passed  over  it  and  made  use 
of  the  word  *'  led  "  instead,  indicates  that,  in  his 
teaching,  the  Holy  Spirit  leads  and  does  not  cany 
God's  children  to  their  destined  goal  of  holiness ; 
that  while  the  Spirit  determines  both  the  end  and 


THE  LEADING  OF  THE  SPIRIT  169 

the  way  toward  it,  His  will  controlling  their  action, 
yet  it  is  by  their  effort  that  they  advance  to  the 
determined  end. 

Here,  therefore,  there  emerges  an  interesting 
indication  of  the  difference  between  the  Spirit's 
action  in  dealing  with  the  prophet  of  God  in  im- 
parting through  him  God's  message  to  men,  and 
the  action  of  the  same  Spirit  in  dealing  with  the 
children  of  God  in  bringing  them  into  their  proper 
holiness  of  life.  The  prophet  is  "  borne  "  of  the 
Spirit ;  the  child  of  God  is  "  led."  The  prophet's 
attitude  in  receiving  a  revelation  from  God  is 
passive,  purely  receptive;  he  has  no  part  in  it, 
adds  nothing  to  it,  is  only  the  organ  through 
which  the  Spirit  delivers  it  to  men;  he  is  taken 
up  by  the  Spirit,  as  it  were,  and  borne  along  by 
Him  by  virtue  of  the  power  that  resides  in  the 
Spirit,  which  is  natural  to  Him,  and  which,  in  its 
exercise,  supersedes  the  natural  activities  of  the 
man.  Such  is  the  import  of  the  term  used  by 
Peter  to  express  it.  On  the  other  hand,  the  son 
of  God  is  not  purely  passive  in  the  hands  of  the 
sanctifying  Spirit ;  he  is  not  borne,  but  led — that 
is,  his  own  efforts  enter  into  the  progress  made 
under  the  controlling  direction  of  the  Spirit ;  he 
supplies,  in  fact,  the  force  exerted  in  attaining  the 
progress,  while  yet  the  controlling  Spirit  supplies 


I70     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

the  entire  directing  impulse.  Such  is  the  import 
of  the  term  used  by  Paul  to  express  it.  Therefore 
no  prophet  could  be  exhorted  to  work  out  his 
own  message  with  fear  and  trembling ;  it  is  not 
left  to  him  to  work  it  out — the  Holy  Spirit  works 
it  out  for  him  and  communicates  it  in  all  its  rich 
completeness  to  and  through  him.  But  the  chil- 
dren of  God  are  exhorted  to  work  out  their  own 
salvation  in  fear  and  trembling  because  they  know 
the  Spirit  is  working  in  them  both  the  willing  and 
the  doing  according  to  His  own  good  pleasure. 

In  order  to  appreciate  this  element  of  the 
apostle's  teaching  at  its  full  value  it  is  perhaps 
worth  while  to  observe  still  further  that  in  his 
choice  of  a  term  to  express  the  nature  of  the 
Spirit's  action  in  leading  God's  children  the  apostle 
avoids  all  terms  which  would  attribute  to  the 
Spirit  the  power  employed  in  making  progress 
along  the  chosen  road.  Not  only  does  he  not 
represent  us  as  being  carried  by  the  Spirit;  he 
does  not  even  declare  that  we  are  drawn  by  Him. 
There  was  a  term  in  common  use  which  the 
apostle  could  have  used  had  he  intended  to  ex- 
press the  idea  that  the  Spirit  drags,  by  physical 
force  as  it  were,  the  children  of  God  onward  in 
the  direction  in  which  He  would  have  them  go. 
This  term  is  actually  used  when  the  Saviour  declares 


THE  LEADING  OF  THE  SPIRIT  171 

that  no  man  can  come  unto  Him  except  the 
Father  draw  him  (John  vi.  44) — which  is  as  much 
as  to  say  that  men  in  the  first  instance  do  not  and 
cannot  come  to  Christ  by  virtue  of  any  powers 
native  to  themselves,  but  require  the  action  upon 
them  of  a  power  from  without,  coming  to  them, 
drawing  their  inert,  passive  weight  to  Christ,  if 
they  are  to  be  brought  to  Him  at  all.  We  can 
identify  this  act  of  drawing — "  dragging  "  would 
perhaps  express  the  sense  of  the  Greek  term  none 
too  strongly — with  that  act  which  we  call,  in  our 
theological  analysis,  regeneration,  and  which  we 
explain  in  accordance  with  the  import  of  this  term, 
as  the  monergistic  act  of  God,  impinging  on  a 
sinner  who  is  and  remains,  as  far  as  this  act  is 
concerned,  purely  passive,  and  therefore  does  not 
move,  but  is  moved. 

Such,  however,  is  not  the  method  of  the  Spirit's 
leading  of  which  Paul  speaks  in  our  text.  This 
is  not  a  drawing  or  dragging  of  a  passive  weight 
toward  a  goal  which  is  attained,  if  attained  at  all, 
only  by  virtue  of  the  power  residing  in  the  mov- 
ing Spirit ;  but  a  leading  of  an  active  agent  to  an 
end  determined  indeed  by  the  Spirit,  and  along 
a  course  which  is  marked  out  by  the  Spirit,  but 
over  which  the  soul  is  carried  by  virtue  of  its 
own  power  of  action  and  through  its  own  strenu- 


172     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

ous  efforts.  If  we  are  not  borne  by  the  Spirit 
out  of  our  sin  into  holiness  with  a  smooth  and 
easy  movement,  almost  unnoted  by  us  or  noted 
only  with  the  languid  pleasure  with  which  a  child 
resting  peacefully  on  its  mother's  breast  may  note 
its  progress  up  some  rough  mountain  road,  so 
neither  are  we  dragged  by  the  Spirit  as  a  passive 
weight  over  the  steep  and  rugged  path.  We  are 
led.  We  are  under  His  control  and  walk  in  the 
path  in  which  He  sets  our  feet.  It  is  His  part  to 
keep  us  in  the  path  and  to  bring  us  at  length  to 
the  goal.  But  it  is  we  who  tread  every  step 
of  the  way ;  our  limbs  that  grow  weary  with  the 
labor;  our  hearts  that  faint,  our  courage  that  fails 
— our  faith  that  revives  our  sinking  strength,  our 
hope  that  instills  new  courage  into  our  souls — as 
we  toil  on  over  the  steep  ascent. 

And  thus  it  is  most  natural  that  the  third  mat- 
ter to  which  Paul's  declaration  that  we  are  led  by 
the  Spirit  of  God  directs  our  attention  concerns 
the  pathway  over  which  our  progress  is  made. 

One  is  not  led  who  is  unconscious  of  the  road 
over  which  he  advances;  such  a  one  is  rather 
carried.  He  who  is  led  treads  the  road  himself, 
is  aware  of  its  roughness  and  its  steepness,  pants 
with  the  effort  which  he  expends,  is  appalled  by 


THE  LEADING  OF  THE  SPIRIT  173 

the  prospect  of  the  difficulties  that  open  out 
before  him,  rejoices  in  the  progress  made,  and  is 
filled  with  exultant  hope  as  each  danger  and 
obstacle  is  safely  surmounted.  He  who  is  led  is 
in  the  hands  of  an  extraneous  power,  of  a  power 
which  controls  his  actions ;  but  the  pathway  over 
which  he  is  thus  led  is  trodden  by  his  own  efforts 
— by  his  own  struggles  it  may  be — and  the  goal 
that  is  attained  is  attained  at  the  cost  of  his  own 
labor. 

When  Paul  chooses  this  particular  term,  there- 
fore, and  declares  that  the  sons  of  God  are  led  by 
the  Spirit,  he  is  in  no  way  forgetful  of  the  ardu- 
ous nature  of  the  road  over  which  they  are  to 
advance,  or  of  the  strenuous  exertion  on  their 
own  part  by  which  alone  they  may  accomplish  it. 
He  strengthens  and  comforts  them  with  the  assur- 
ance that  they  are  not  to  tread  the  path  alone ; 
but  he  does  not  lull  them  into  inertness  by  sug- 
gesting that  they  are  not  to  tread  it.  The  term 
he  employs  avouches  to  them  the  constant  and 
continuous  presence  with  them  of  the  leading 
Spirit,  not  merely  setting  them  in  the  right  path, 
but  keeping  them  in  it  and  leading  them  through 
it;  for  it  designates  not  an  impulse  which  merely 
initiates  a  movement  in  a  given  direction,  but  a 
continuous   influence    unbrokenly   determining  a 


174     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

movement  to  its  very  goal.  But  his  language  does 
not  promise  them  relief  from  the  weariness  of  the 
journey,  alleviation  of  the  roughness  of  the  road, 
freedom  from  difficulty  or  danger  in  its  course,  or 
emancipation  from  the  labor  of  travel.  That  they 
have  been  placed  in  the  right  path,  that  they  will 
be  kept  continuously  in  it,  that  they  will  attain 
the  goal — of  this  he  assures  them ;  for  this  it  is 
to  be  led  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  a  power  not  our- 
selves controlling  our  actions,  prevalently  direct- 
ing our  movement  to  an  end  of  His  choice.  But 
He  does  not  encourage  us  to  relax  our  own 
endeavors ;  for  he  who  is  led,  even  though  it  be 
by  the  Spirit  of  God,  advances  by  virtue  of  his 
own  powers  and  his  own  efforts.  In  a  word,  Paul 
chooses  language  to  express  the  action  of  the 
Spirit  on  the  sons  of  God  which  is  in  perfect  har- 
mony with  his  exhortation  to  the  children  of 
God  to  which  we  have  already  alluded — to  work 
out  their  own  salvation  with  fear  and  trembling 
because  they  know  it  is  God  that  is  working  in 
them  both  the  willing  and  the  doing  according  to 
His  own  good  pleasure. 

What  a  strong  consolation  for  us  is  found  in 
this  gracious  assurance — poor,  weak  children  of 
men  as  we  are !     To  our  frightened  ears  the  text 


THE  LEADING  OF  THE  SPIRIT  175 

may  come  at  first  as  with  the  solemnity  of  a 
warning:  "As  many  as  are  led  by  the  Spirit  of 
God,  these  and  these  only  are  sons  of  God."  Is 
there  not  a  declaration  here  that  we  are  not  God's 
children  unless  we  are  led  by  God's  Spirit? 
Knowing  ourselves,  and  contemplating  the  course 
of  our  lives  and  the  character  of  our  ambitions, 
dare  we  claim  to  be  led  by  the  Spirit  of  God?  Is 
this  life — this  life  that  I  am  living  in  the  flesh — 
is  this  the  product  of  the  Spirit's  leading  ?  Shall 
not  despair  close  in  upon  me  as  I  pass  the  dread- 
ful judgment  on  myself  that  I  am  not  led  by 
God's  Spirit,  and  that  I  am,  therefore,  not  one  of 
His  sons  ?  Let  us  hasten  to  remind  ourselves, 
then,  that  such  is  not  the  purport  nor  the  purpose 
of  the  text.  It  stands  here  not  in  order  to  drive 
us  to  despair,  because  we  see  we  have  sin  within 
us ;  but  to  kindle  within  us  a  great  fire  of  hope 
and  confidence  because  we  perceive  we  have  the 
Holy  Spirit  within  us. 

Paul,  as  we  have  seen,  does  not  forget  the  sin 
within  us.  Who  has  painted  it  and  its  baleful 
power  with  more  vigorous  touch  ?  But  neither 
would  he  have  us  forget  that  we  have  the  Holy 
Spirit  within  us,  and  what  that  blessed  fact,  above 
all  blessed  facts,  means.  He  would  not  have  us 
reason  that  because  sin  is  in  us  we  cannot  be 


176     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

God's  children ;  but  in  happy  contradiction  to 
this,  that  because  the  Holy  Spirit  is  in  us  we  can- 
not but  be  God's  children.  Sin  is  great  and  pow- 
erful ;  it  is  too  great  and  too  powerful  for  us ;  but 
the  Holy  Ghost  is  greater  and  more  powerful  than 
even  sin.  The  discovery  of  sin  in  us  might  bring 
us  to  despair  did  not  Paul  discern  the  Holy  Spirit 
in  us — who  is  greater  than  sin — that  he  may 
quicken  our  hope. 

This  declaration  that  frightens  us  is  not  written, 
then,  to  frighten,  but  to  console  and  to  enhearten. 
It  stands  here  for  the  express  purpose  of  comfort- 
ing those  who  would  despair  at  the  sight  of  their 
sin.  Is  there  a  conflict  of  sin  and  holiness  in 
you?  asks  Paul.  This  very  fact  that  there  is 
conflict  in  you  is  the  charter  of  your  salvation. 
Where  the  Holy  Spirit  is  not,  there  conflict  is 
not;  sin  rules  undisputed  lord  over  the  life.  That 
there  is  conflict  in  you,  that  you  do  not  rest  in 
complacency  in  your  sin,  is  a  proof  that  the  Spirit 
of  God  is  within  you,  leading  you  to  holiness. 
And  all  who  are  led  by  the  Spirit  of  God  are  the 
children  of  God;  and  if  children,  then  heirs,  heirs 
of  God  and  joint  heirs  with  Christ  Jesus.  This 
is  the  purport  of  the  message  of  the  text  to  us. 
Paul  points  us  not  to  the  victory  of  good  over  evil, 
but  to  the  conflict  of  good  with  evil — not  to  the 


THE  LEADING  OF  THE  SPIRIT  177 

end  but  to  the  process — as  the  proof  of  childship 
to  God.  The  note  of  the  passage  is,  thus,  not 
one  of  fear  and  despair,  but  one  of  hope  and  tri- 
umph. "  If  God  be  for  us  who  can  be  against 
us  ?" — that  is  the  query  the  apostle  would  have 
ring  in  our  hearts.  Sin  has  a  dreadful  grasp  upon 
us ;  we  have  no  power  to  withstand  it.  But  there 
enters  our  hearts  a  power  not  ourselves  making 
for  righteousness.  This  power  is  the  Spirit  of  the 
most  high  God.  "  If  God  be  for  us  who  can  be 
against  us?"  Let  our  hearts  repeat  this  cry  of 
victory  to-day. 

And  as  we  repeat  it,  let  us  go  onward,  in  hope 
and  triumph,  in  our  holy  efforts.  Let  our  slack 
knees  be  strengthened  and  new  vigor  enter  our 
every  nerve.  The  victory  is  assured.  The  Holy 
Spirit  within  us  cannot  fail  us.  The  way  may  be 
rough ;  the  path  may  climb  the  dizzy  ascent  with 
a  rapidity  too  great  for  our  faltering  feet;  dangers, 
pitfalls  are  on  every  side.  But  the  Holy  Spirit  is 
leading  us.  Surely,  in  that  assurance,  despite 
dangers  and  weakness,  and  panting  chest  and 
swimming  head,  we  can  find  strength  to  go  ever 
forward. 

In  these  days,  when  the  gloom  of  doubt  if  not 
even  the  blackness  of  despair,  has  settled  down 
on   so    many   souls,   there    is    surely   profit    and 
12 


178     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

strength  in  the  certainty  that  there  is  a  portal  of 
such  glory  before  us,  and  in  the  assurance  that 
our  feet  shall  press  its  threshold  at  the  last.  In 
this  assurance  we  shall  no  longer  beat  our  dis- 
heartened way  through  life  in  dumb  despondency, 
and  find  expression  for  our  passionate  but  hope- 
less longings  only  in  the  wail  of  the  dreary  poet 
of  pessimism : — 

"  But  if  from  boundless  spaces  no  answering  voice  shall  start, 
Except  the  barren  echo  of  our  ever  yearning  heart — 
Farewell,  then,  empty  deserts,  where  beat  our  aimless  wings, 
Farewell,  then,  dream  sublime  of  uncompassable  things." 

We  are  not,  indeed,  relieved  from  the  necessity  for 
healthful  effort,  but  we  can  no  longer  speak  of"  vain 
hopes."  The  way  may  be  hard,  but  we  can  no 
longer  talk  of  "  the  unfruitful  road  which  bruises 
our  naked  feet."  Strenuous  endeavor  may  be 
required  of  us,  but  we  can  no  longer  feel  that  we 
are  "  beating  aimless  wings,"  and  can  expect  no 
further  response  from  the  infinite  expanse  than 
"  a  sterile  echo  of  our  own  eternal  longings."  No, 
no — the  language  of  despair  falls  at  once  from 
off  our  souls.  Henceforth  our  accents  will  be 
borrowed  rather  from  a  nobler  "  poet  of  faith," 
and  the  blessing  of  Asher  will  seem  to  be  spoken 
to  us  also : — 


THE  LEADING  OF  THE  SPIRIT  179 

"  Thy  shoes  shall  be  iron  and  brass, 
And  as  thy  days,  so  shall  thy  strength  be. 
There  is  none  like  unto  God,  O  Jeshurun, 
Who  rideth  upon  the  heavens  for  thy  help, 
And  in  His  excellency  on  the  skies. 
The  eternal  God  is  thy  dwelling-place, 
And  underneath  are  the  everlasting  arms." 


VII 
PAUL'S  EARLIEST  GOSPEL 


VII 

PAUL'S  EARLIEST  GOSPEL 

"  We  give  thanks  to  God  always  for  you  all,  .  .  .  knowing, 
brethren  beloved  of  God,  your  election.  .  .  .  For  God  appointed 
us  not  unto  wrath,  but  unto  the  obtaining  of  salvation  through  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  died  for  us,  that  ...  we  should  live 
together  with  Him.  .  .  .  Faithful  is  He  that  calleth  you,  who  will 
also  do  it."— I  Thes.  i.  2,  4;  v.  9,  24.  (R.  V.) 

I  HAVE  put  together  here  passages  from  the 
beginning  and  the  end  of  the  First  Epistle  of 
Paul  to  the  Thessalonians,  because,  when  taken 
together,  these  passages  afford  a  succinct  state- 
ment of  the  gospel  which  Paul  preached  to  the 
Thessalonians,  and  on  the  basis  of  which  that 
apostolic  church  was  built  up.  It  may  be  of 
special  interest  to  note  Paul's  gospel  to  the 
Thessalonians  because  it  gives  what  we  may 
call  his  primitive  gospel.  In  observing  it  we 
are  contemplating  the  teaching  of  Paul  at  the 
beginning  of  his  career. 

This  first  letter  to  the  Thessalonians  is  the  earliest 
writing  that  has  come  down  to  us  from  Paul's  pen. 
Is  it  perhaps  also,  we  may  possibly  ask,  a  little 

183 


1 84     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

crude  and  unformed  in  its  presentation  of  Paul's 
gospel  ?  A  glance  at  the  text  is  enough  to  reas- 
sure us.  The  gospel  Paul  preached  to  the  Thessa- 
lonians  is  the  same  gospel  that  he  preached  to  the 
Romans,  and  the  same  gospel  that  he  laid  upon 
the  hearts  of  his  helpers,  Timothy  and  Titus,  to 
preach  when  he  should  no  longer  be  with  them. 
There  is  no  lack  of  firmness  in  the  lines  of  it  as 
they  are  drawn  here ;  no  faltering  in  the  expres- 
sion of  the  details.  We  cannot,  then,  approach 
its  consideration  in  a  purely  historical  spirit. 
The  gospel  Paul  preached  in  those  early  days  to 
the  Thessalonians  is  the  gospel  which  he  preached 
ever  after  and  is  still  preaching  to-day  to  the 
world.  It  is  the  gospel  that  he  commends  to  us 
as  well  as  to  the  Thessalonians,  and  we  may 
without  hesitation  take  it  to  ourselves  as  the  very 
gospel  of  God. 

The  external  history  of  the  carrying  of  the 
gospel  to  the  Thessalonians  is  soon  told.  Paul 
had  come  among  them  filled  with  a  very  vivid 
sense  of  his  divine  mission,  in  response  to  the  cry 
of  the  Macedonian  man  to  come  over  and  help 
the  Greek  peoples.  He  was,  more  immediately, 
fresh  from  the  persecution  at  Philippi,  and  was 
pressed  in  spirit  from  his  experience  there  (ii.  2). 
Waxing  bold  in  God  he  had  proclaimed,  perhaps 


PAUL'S  EARLIEST  GOSPEL  185 

with  unusual  fervor — certainly  not  in  word  only, 
but  also  in  power  and  in  the  Holy  Ghost  and  in 
much  assurance  (i.  5) — the  pure  gospel  of  God's 
grace ;  and  had  not  only  adorned  the  doctrine  he 
preached  by  a  life  of  self-denial  for  its  sake  (ii.  9), 
but  also  commended  it  by  a  loving  eagerness  and 
tender  pertinacity  in  enforcing  it  on  the  attention 
of  his  hearers.  Looking  back  on  it  all,  he  de- 
scribes his  yearning  after  their  souls  in  the  beauti- 
ful similes  of  a  nursing  mother  cherishing  her 
children  (ii.  7),  and  of  a  watchful  father  consoling 
and  encouraging  and  testifying  to  his  sons  (ii.  11). 
The  Thessalonians  had  received  this  gospel, 
pressed  upon  them  with  such  affectionate  assi- 
duity, with  exceptional  readiness  and  exceptional 
zeal  (i.  6,  9;  ii.  15).  They  had  recognized  the 
word  of  the  message  as  what  it  really  was,  not 
the  word  of  man,  but  the  word  of  God,  and  had 
set  themselves  to  obey  its  commands.  As  fruit- 
age of  their  faith  the  apostle  perceives  with  joy 
the  Christian  graces  their  lives  had  from  the  first 
exhibited — their  work  of  faith  and  labor  of  love 
and  patience  of  hope  (i.  3,  8 ;  iv.  9). 

In  writing  back  to  them  to  strengthen  them  in 
face  of  the  persecution  which  had  meanwhile 
fallen  upon  them,  and  to  exhort  them  to  a  con- 
tinuous   advance    in    their    Christian    life,    Paul 


1 86  THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

naturally  makes  much  of  the  gospel  which  had 
wrought  so  powerfully  among  them.  He  calls  it 
affectionately  his  gospel  (i.  4),  and  reverentially 
God's  gospel  (ii.  2),  which  was  his  therefore  only 
because,  as  God's  minister  in  the  gospel  of  Christ 
(v.  2),  he  had  been  approved  to  be  intrusted  with 
it  (ii.  4).  It  is  not  to  himself — his  eloquence,  the 
winningness  of  his  appeal,  the  force  of  his  argu- 
mentation, the  clearness  of  his  presentation  in 
preaching  it — but  to  the  gospel  itself  with  which 
he  was  armed,  that  he  ascribes  the  revolution 
that  had  been  wrought  in  the  lives  of  the  Thessa- 
lonians.  He  was  God's  minister  in  the  gospel  of 
Christ  indeed,  but  the  gospel  was  itself  God's 
own  word,  and  it  was  it  that  energized,  as  the 
word  of  God,  in  them  that  believed  (ii.  13).  The 
whole  value  of  his  mission,  he  gives  us  to  under- 
stand over  and  over  again,  resided  just  in  the 
gospel  he  preached — the  glad  tidings  which  he 
was  the  instrument  in  bringing  to  men. 

Now,  in  the  words  which  we  have  culled  out  of 
this  epistle  for  our  text,  we  have  this  blessed  gos- 
pel succinctly  summarized.  The  core  of  it  con- 
sisted, it  is  plain,  in  one  and  only  one  simple  proc- 
lamation ;  a  proclamation,  however,  which  when 
duly  apprehended  is  not  less  tremendous  in  its 
import  and  implications  than  it  is  simple  in  its  form 


PAUL'S  EARLIEST  GOSPEL  187 

— the  proclamation,  to  wit,  of  "  salvation  through 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  who  died  for  us  that  we 
should  live  together  with  Him";  or,  as  in  another 
passage  (i.  10)  it  is  even  more  concisely  summed 
up,  the  proclamation  of  *'  Jesus  our  deliverer  from 
the  coming  wrath."  "  Jesus  our  deliverer  from  the 
coming  wrath  !"  Let  us  lay  that  sentence  well  to 
mind,  for  in  that  one  sentence  is  contained  the 
whole  essence  of  Paul's  gospel  to  the  Thessa- 
lonians,  and  the  whole  essence  of  his  gospel  to  us. 
The  whole  essence,  we  say,  though  not,  of 
course,  the  entire  structure  of  it.  For,  as  we  have 
hinted,  there  are  tremendous  implications  involved 
in  this  simple  proclamation.  And  these  implica- 
tions Paul  did  not  leave  to  the  inferences  of  his 
disciples  to  work  out,  but  made  them  rather  the 
subject  of  explicit  instruction.  There  is,  for  ex- 
ample, a  whole  doctrine  of  sin  implied,  and  a 
whole  doctrine  of  redemption,  and  a  whole  doc- 
trine of  the  application  of  redemption  to  sinful 
men,  and  of  the  relation  of  God's  activities  to  the 
activities  of  man  in  the  saving  process.  For,  be 
it  observed,  to  say  that  the  core  of  Paul's  gospel 
consisted  in  the  simple  proclamation  of  Jesus  our 
deliverer  from  the  coming  wrath — of  salvation 
through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  died  for  us 
that  we  should  live  with  Him — is  not  the  same  as 


1 88     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

to  say  that  he  preached  Jesus  simpliciter.  He 
did  not  preach  Jesus  simpliciter.  He  preached, 
as  he  elsewhere  puts  it,  Jesus  as  crucified  {\  Cor. 
ii.  2).  And  the  very  essence  of  his  proclamation 
as  a  gospel  consists  in  just  this,  that  it  was  not 
Jesus  as  man  or  even  as  God-man  merely  that 
he  held  up  to  men's  adoring  gaze,  but  Jesus 
"  our  deliverer  from  the  coming  wrath,"  Jesus 
"  who  died  for  us  that  we  should  live  with  Him," 
that  he  offered  to  their  trusting  faith.  And  this 
mode  of  presenting  Jesus  has,  as  we  say,  its  tre- 
mendous implications — implications  of  such  im- 
port that  without  them  the  proclamation  would 
be  vain,  and  therefore  of  such  importance  as  to 
be  made  by  Paul  the  subject  of  explicit  and  eager 
teaching. 

It  will  doubtless  be  of  interest,  and  certainly  it 
is  of  importance  to  us  in  our  spiritual  apprehen- 
sion of  the  truth,  to  try  to  draw  out  somewhat 
fully  the  essential  characteristics  of  Paul's  gospel 
as  exhibited  in  this  his  earliest  presentation  of  it 
in  written  form. 

The  first  thing  that  strongly  impresses  us,  if 
we  scrutinize  it  closely,  is  that  it  is  emphatically 
a  gospel  of  deliverance  from  sin. 

It  is  a  gospel  of  salvation;  and  just  because  it 


PAUL'S  EARLIEST  GOSPEL  189 

is  a  gospel  of  salvation,  behind  it  there  lies  the 
deepest  possible  sense  of  sin — active  in  the 
apostle's  mind  as  the  basis  of  his  whole  gospel, 
and  frankly  presuppposed  as  also  lying  in  his 
readers'  minds  as  a  fundamental  conviction,  the 
point  of  entrance,  indeed,  of  his  gospel  into  their 
hearts.  This  background  of  sin  is  manifested  in 
the  words  which  we  have  taken  as  our  text,  in  a 
double  implication.  First,  there  is  the  contrast 
drawn  in  the  declaration,  "  For  God  appointed  us 
not  unto  wrath,  but  unto  the  obtaining  of  salva- 
tion." Here  we  see  the  background  of  sin  as 
guilt  set  before  us.  Those  who  do  not  obtain 
this  salvation  remain  under  the  wrath  of  God; 
and  the  condition  of  man  wherefrom  he  requires 
salvation  is  therefore  a  condition  of  wrath-deserv- 
ing sin.  Again,  there  is  the  contrast  underlying 
the  declaration,  "  Faithful  is  He  who  calleth  you, 
who  will  also  do  it " — for  this  great  assertion  is 
made  to  comfort  those  who  despair  of  attaining  a 
blameless "  life  in  God's  sight.  We  see  here  the 
background  of  sin  as  pollution,  producing  in- 
ability to  good.  It  is  only  in  that  God  who  in 
this  crisp  proverb  is  declared  not  only  the  caller, 
but  the  doer — the  one  who  emphatically  performs 
— that  man  can  trust  for  the  cleansing  of  his 
heart.     In  both  aspects  of  it — guilt  and  pollution 


lyo     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

— sin  lies  everywhere  presupposed  as  the  primary 
condition  of  Paul's  gospel. 

Not  least  do  we  perceive  its  shadow,  of  course, 
in  that  most  pregnant  of  all  the  declarations  of 
the  epistle — that  which  sums  up  Paul's  gospel  in 
the  proclamation  of  "Jesus  our  deliverer  from 
the  coming  wrath."  It  is  clear  that  before  all 
else  this  preacher  is  impressed  with  the  fact  that 
the  wrath  of  God  hangs  imminent  over  mankind, 
and  that  the  great  black  cloud  of  sin  rests  lower- 
ingly  over  the  entire  world.  It  is  because  of  this 
sense  of  sin  that  the  need  of  deliverance  looms 
so  big  in  his  mind ;  and  that  it  is  such  good  news, 
such  glad  tidings  to  his  heart  that  Jesus  is  our 
deliverer  from  the  coming  wrath — that  in  His 
death  and  resurrection  we  have  salvation  from 
the  wrath  that  otherwise  would  be  appointed  to 
us.  All  Paul's  gospel  thus  rests  on  sin  as  its 
precedent  occasion  and  the  measure  of  its  need, 
and  the  measure,  therefore,  of  its  preciousness. 

Now  it  may  well  be  that  this  sense  of  sin  that 
supplied  to  Paul  the  dark  background  against 
which  the  glory  of  the  gospel  w^as  thrown  out,  is 
not  so  deep  or  so  poignant  in  our  modern  world 
as  it  was  to  him  or  even  to  his  hearers.  We  hear 
a  good  deal,  at  all  events,  to-day  of  the  "  vanish- 
ing sense  of  sin " ;    and   indeed,  when  we   look 


PAUL'S  EARLIEST  GOSPEL  191 

around  us,  we  see  influences  enough  at  work 
which  must  tend  to  dull  men's  feeling  of  the 
depth  and  heinousness  of  sin.  Is  it,  perchance, 
merely  unwitting  error  into  which  we  fall  because 
of  our  as  yet  insufficient  knowledge  or  wisdom  ? 
Is  it  possibly  merely  the  mark  of  our  finiteness, 
the  indication  that  we  are  not  as  yet  all  that  we 
are  hereafter  to  be  ?  Is  it  perhaps  but  the  effect 
of  our  insufficient  adjustment  to  our  environment, 
that  will  pass  away  as  we  fit  ourselves  more  per- 
fectly into  our  place  ?  Is  it  perhaps  just  the 
mark  of  our  advancing  evolution  to  the  perfec- 
tion toward  which  we  are  constantly  progressing 
— the  condition  of  our  advance,  because  the  gall- 
ing of  the  imperfections  yet  remaining  and  the 
incitement  to  effort  for  their  removal  ?  So  men 
to-day  talk  mildly  of  what  to  the  apostle  was  sin 
in  all  the  hideous  suggestions  of  that  word — 
rotting  corruption  of  heart,  throwing  itself  up  in 
an  unclean  and  polluted  life  on  the  one  hand  ; 
remorseful  guilt  in  the  sight  of  a  holy  God, 
entailing  His  wrath  and  His  wrath's  inevitable 
punishment  on  the  other.  And  we  shall  never 
understand  or  participate  in  this  gospel  which 
Paul  preached  to  the  Thessalonians,  and  through 
them  to  us,  until  we  feel  with  him  the  fact  and 
the  horror  and  the  helplessness  and  the  hopeless- 


192 


THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 


ncss  of  the  sin  that  lies  as  its  prime  presupposi- 
tion at  its  base. 

We  must  note  then,  secondly,  that  just  because 
Paul's  gospel  to  the  Thessalonians  was  emphat- 
ically a  gospel  of  deliverance  from  sin,  it  was  as 
emphatically  an  ethical  gospel — a  gospel  of  right- 
eousness and  holiness  of  life. 

In  Paul's  own  summary  of  it,  in  the  second 
epistle,  this  characteristic  is  thrown  forward  into 
very  special  prominence.  The  salvation  which 
he  makes  the  substance  of  his  proclamation  he 
there  describes  as  finding  its  whole  sphere  just  in 
"  sanctification  of  the  Spirit,"  that  is,  in  the  work 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  framing  the  life  into  holiness. 
This  note  is  equally  a  fundamental  note  of  this 
first  epistle.  It  is  just  because  of  their  Christian 
graces — the  revolution  thus  wrought  in  their  lives 
— that  Paul  thanks  God  in  behalf  of  his  converts 
(i.  3).  It  is  that  God  may  establish  their  hearts 
unblamable  before  our  God  and  Father — that 
they  may  be  sanctified  wholly,  and  in  spirit  and  in 
soul  and  in  body  be  preserved  blameless  (v.  23) — 
that  he  offers  his  most  fervent  prayers  for  them. 
He  declares  with  strong  asseveration  that  it  is  the 
will  of  God  for  them  that  they  should  abstain 
from     fleshly    lusts    and    be    sanctified — for,   he 


PAUL'S  EARLIEST  GOSPEL 


193 


explains  with  insistent  iteration,  "  God  called  us 
not  for  uncleanness  but  in  sanctification  "  (iv.  8). 
It  is  the  holy  walk  alone,  he  declares,  that  is 
pleasing  to  God  (iv.  i);  and  nothing  can  exhibit 
more  plainly  one's  ignorance  of  God,  he  intimates, 
than  that  he  should  walk  in  uncleanness — for, 
says  the  apostle,  God  is  our  judge  in  all  these 
things,  and  of  this  he  had  faithfully  forewarned  his 
readers  and  testified  (iv.  6,  7).  Thus  the  very 
essence  of  their  calhng  is  made  to  consist  in  holi- 
ness of  life,  and  Paul  obviously  looks  upon  their 
holiness  as  the  direct  result  of  their  salvation,  or, 
let  us  say  rather,  as  the  very  matter  of  their  sal- 
vation. Their  salvation  consists  just  in  holiness, 
and  in  so  far  as  it  exists  at  all  it  is  manifested  in 
the  sanctification  in  which  it  consists. 

So  far,  then,  is  Paul  from  lending  any  counte- 
nance to  that  odd  fancy  which  has  shown  itself 
here  and  there  through  all  the  ages — that  would 
look  upon  religion  and  morality  in  divorce,  and 
esteem  the  one  possible  in  the  absence  of  the 
other — that  he  absolutely  identifies  the  two  in  his 
gospel.  This,  of  course,  implies  that  with  him 
religion  is  something  more  than  a  mere  sentiment 
of  awe  in  the  presence  of  a  superhuman  power ; 
and  morality  something  more  than  mere  external 
conformity  to  a  standard  of  human  custom  or  to 
13 


194     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

laws  of  life  of  human  exactment.  To  understand 
his  standpoint  we  must  apprehend  all  that  is 
meant  by  religion  conceived  as  communion  with 
the  holy  God  in  Christ  Jesus  the  righteous  one, 
and  by  morality  conceived  as  Godlikeness,  as 
conformity  to  the  likeness  of  God's  own  Son. 
He  was  not  proclaiming  an  abstract  "  religion  " ; 
he  was  proclaiming  the  concrete  religion  of  salva- 
tion from  the  wrath  of  God  through  Jesus  Christ, 
and  as  this  salvation  is  from  sin  it  necessarily  is 
unto  holiness — that  holiness  without  which  no 
one  shall  see  God.  But  we  must  not,  on  the 
other  hand,  suppose  that  Paul  conceived  this  sal- 
vation and  holiness  as  working  its  whole  process 
all  at  once ;  or  looked  upon  his  converts,  if 
believers  at  all,  as  wholly  free  from  sin.  Nothing 
is  clearer  than  his  solicitude  for  them  as  viatores 
who  have  not  yet  attained  the  goal;  nothing  is 
more  striking  than  his  tenderness  with  them  in 
their  remaining  sin,  and  the  zeal  of  his  exhorta- 
tions to  them  to  go  on  to  perfection. 

We  have  not  reached  the  bottom  of  the  matter, 
therefore,  until  we  observe,  again,  that  Paul's 
gospel  of  salvation  from  sin,  which  he  preached 
to  the  Thessalonians,  was  emphatically  an  eschat- 
ological  gospel. 


PAUL'S  EARLIEST  GOSPEL  195 

As  we  have  seen,  Paul  was  under  no  illusions, 
nor  did  he  permit  his  readers  to  remain  under  any 
illusions,  as  to  the  nature  of  the  Hfe  they  had 
been  leading  in  the  world,  or  as  to  the  need  that 
they  had  of  "  salvation "  with  reference  to  this 
their  life  in  this  world — if  they  would  at  all  be 
well-pleasing  to  God.  The  change  that  had  come 
over  them,  the  new  life  that  had  become  theirs 
when  "  they  turned  unto  God  from  idols  to  serve 
the  living  and  true  God" — their  "  work  of  faith 
and  labor  of  love  and  patience  of  hope  " — formed 
the  very  matter  of  his  thanksgiving  to  God  in 
their  behalf  And  one  of  the  chief  objects  of  his 
writing  to  them  now  was  strenuously  to  urge 
them  to  increase  and  abound  in  love  to  one 
another  (iii.  11),  to  abound  more  and  more  in  the 
holy  walk  which  alone  is  pleasing  to  God  (iv.  7) ; 
and  to  press  on  their  consciences  the  fact  that 
the  will  of  God  toward  them  was  their  sanctifica- 
tion  and  His  call  to  them  was  unto  sanctification 
(iv.  3,  7);  and  at  the  same  time  to  comfort  them, 
in  their  sense  of  hopeless  shortcoming,  with  the 
assurance  of  the  faithfulness  and  ability  of  the 
God  who  had  called  them  to  complete  the  good 
work  unto  the  end  (iv.  23). 

Nevertheless  this  strong  insistence  upon  the 
salvation  of  their  earthly  life   to  holiness   by  no 


196     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

means  exhausted  his  saving  message ;  nor  did  it 
constitute  its   primary  element.     His   eye   is    set 
steadily  not  upon  the  present,  but  upon  the  future. 
Even  this  hoHness  of  life  on  which  he  lays  such 
stress  is,  indeed,  not  looked  upon  as  primarily  for 
this  life,  but  rather  as  having  its  chief  significance 
for  the  life  to  come.     This  is  distinctly  its  refer- 
ence, for   example,  in   Paul's  fervent  prayers  for 
their  perfecting  in  holiness  and  in  his  comforting 
promises    concerning  it.     We    read,   "The    Lord 
make  you  to  increase  and  abound  in  love  toward 
one  another,  and  toward  all   men,   ...   to  the 
end  He  may  stablish  your  hearts  unblamable  in 
holiness  before  our  God  and  Father,  at  the  coming 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  with  all  His  saints"  (iii.  12,  13). 
We  read,  "  And  the  God  of  peace  Himself  sanc- 
tify you  wholly;   and   may  your  spirit  and  soul 
and  body  be  preserved  entire,  without  blame,  at 
the  coming  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  faithful  is 
He  that  calleth  you,  who  will  also  do  it "  (vs.  23, 
24).     Thus  their  very  sanctification,  on  which  he 
lays  such  stress  and  in  which  he  makes  the  very 
matter  of  their  "  salvation"  to  consist,  is  yet  looked 
upon  by  him  not  in  and  for  itself,  but  as  a  means 
to   an   end — as    a   preparation  for  something   to 
come — in   which   something   to    come  their  real 
salvation  finds  its  culmination  and  its  crown. 


PAUL'S  EARLIEST  GOSPEL  197 

It  is  emphatically,  therefore,  an  eschatological 
salvation  that  Paul  preached  to  the  Thessalonians. 
And  accordingly  this  epistle  that  he  writes  to 
them  is  a  markedly  eschatological  epistle.  His 
mind  was  set  upon  the  future,  and  he  kept  his 
readers'  minds  also  set  upon  the  future.  The  sal- 
vation he  was  proclaiming  to  them  was  a  matter 
not  of  present  fruition,  but  distinctly  of  hope. 
To  arm  themselves  for  the  temptations  of  life  they 
are  to  put  on  the  breastplate  of  faith  and  love, 
and  for  a  helmet  the  hope  of  salvation  (iii.  8). 
What  he  desires  in  them,  then,  is  an  attitude  not 
of  attainment,  but  of  expectation.  When  they 
turned  unto  God  from  idols  it  was  to  serve  the 
living  and  the  true  God,  and  to  wait  for  His  Son 
from  heaven  (i.  10).  Whatever  comes  to  them 
here  and  now,  therefore,  in  the  way  of  enjoyment 
of  this  salvation  is  prelibation  only.  The  realiza- 
tion belongs  not  here,  but  yonder ;  not  now,  but 
in  the  time  to  come. 

The  hinge  of  the  whole  proclamation  turns,  in  a 
word,  on  a  doctrine  of  wrath  to  come,  which  im- 
pends over  all,  deliverance  from  which  can  be  had 
only  in  Jesus  Christ — in  His  death  in  our  behalf 
and  His  resurrection  as  the  firstfruits  of  those  that 
sleep.  Accordingly  the  very  core  of  Paul's  gos- 
pel   to  the  Thessalonians  is  summed  up,  as  we 


198     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

have  seen,  in  the  proclamation  of  Jesus  our  dehv- 
ercr  from  the  wrath  to  come.  And  when  the 
apostle  would  encourage  his  readers  in  the  pros- 
pect of  that  dread  coming  of  the  Lord  as  a  thief 
in  the  night,  bringing  sudden  destruction,  as  tra- 
vail upon  a  woman  with  child,  on  all  who  have 
not  obeyed  His  gospel,  it  is  in  the  carefully  chosen 
words,  "  For  God  appointed  us  not  unto  wrath, 
but  unto  the  obtaining  of  salvation  through  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  died  for  us  that  we  should 
live  with  Him."  The  salvation  they  hoped  for  is 
thus  set  pointedly  over  against  the  wrath  appointed 
for  mankind  outside  its  reach ;  and  it  is  set  forth 
most  sharply  as  distinctly  an  eschatological  sal- 
vation. 

Accordingly,  also,  nothing  that  in  this  world 
befalls  those  who  are  appointed  to  the  obtaining 
of  this  salvation  can  mar  their  joy  in  believing. 
Not  a  life  of  suffering  and  persecution.  Indeed, 
to  that  too  they  are  appointed  (ii.  3).  And  what- 
ever may  be  the  distress  and  the  affliction  that 
assault  them  here,  there  remains  a  far  more  ex- 
ceeding weight  of  glory  in  store  for  them  here- 
after. And  not  death  itself  For  death  itself  is 
but  a  sleep  for  those  who  believe  that  Christ  died 
and  rose  again,  and  that  God  will  bring  them 
with  Him.     And  when  He   shall    descend   from 


PAUL'S  EARLIEST  GOSPEL  199 

heaven  with  a  shout,  with  the  voice  of  the  arch- 
angel and  with  the  trump  of  God,  they  shall  rise 
from  the  dead  to  be  henceforth  for  ever  with  the 
Lord. 

This  is  a  gospel,  obviously,  then,  not  of  tempo- 
ral salvation  from  present-day  evils,  but  of  eternal 
salvation  from  the  endless  burnings  of  the  wrath 
of  God  against  sin ;  not  of  temporal  salvation  to 
present-day  excellences,  but  of  eternal  salvation 
to  everlasting  glory.  We  have  heard  a  good  deal 
of  late  of  very  different  import.  We  have  been 
repeatedly  told  that  our  concern  is  not  to  be  with 
heaven,  but  with  earth  ;  that  we  should  not  talk  of 
saving  our  souls,  but  rather,  simply,  of  saving  our 
lives ;  that  to  get  the  life  right  is  the  main  thing, 
and  conduct  should  be  the  one  end  of  our  endeavor. 
Let  us,  it  is  said,  take  pains  with  our  adjustments 
here  and  see  to  it  that  our  hves  are  clean  and  our 
activities  determined  by  altruistic  motives ;  and 
what  then  remains  of  duty  to  man  or  of  hopes  or 
fears  with  which  he  need  concern  himself?  Such 
a  gospel  is  plainly  out  of  all  relation  with  Paul's 
gospel.  So  far  from  beginning  and  ending  with 
this  life,  Paul  treats  this  life  as  but  the  "  suburb  of 
the  life  elysian,  whose  portal  we  call  death."  To 
him  the  real  life  is  there ;  we  are  here  but  pilgrims 
with  no  abiding  city,  and  should  live  as  becomes 


200     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

those  whose  citizenship  is  elsewhere — in  the  city 
that  has  foundations,  whose  builder  and  maker  is 
God.  To  him  all  that  enters  into  this  life  is  but  a 
preparation  for  the  life  to  come,  and  should  be 
consciously  looked  upon  as  such  and  dealt  with 
as  such ;  certainly  not  as  unimportant,  but  as 
finding  its  importance  not  in  itself,  but  in  its  rela- 
tions to  the  eternity  of  bliss  or  woe,  in  comparison 
with  which  this  little  stretch  of  time  in  which  the 
drama  of  the  earthly  life  is  played  out  is  as  noth- 
ing. 

We  cannot  feel  surprise,  then,  when  we  observe, 
once  more,  that  Paul's  gospel  to  the  Thessalonians 
is  distinctly  a  heterosoteric  gospel — that  is  to  say, 
a  gospel  that  offers  us  salvation  in  and  by  the 
work  of  another ;  and  does  not  simply  propose 
for  us  a  way  in  which  we  may  save  ourselves. 

Had  he  in  mind  merely  some  amelioration  of 
the  conditions  of  life  in  this  world — some  better 
adjustment  of  society  and  of  the  individual  life 
with  respect  to  the  several  duties  that  press.,  on  it 
in  its  surroundings — it  might  have  been  more 
possible  for  him  to  look  to  man  himself,  in  his 
native  powers  of  conscience  and  sensibility  and 
will,  to  work  the  necessary  change ;  though  for 
Paul,  with  his  deep  view  of  sin  and  of  the  paralysis 


PAUL'S  EARLIEST  GOSPEL  201 

that  sin  induces  in  all  activities  toward  God,  even 
this  would  have  been  really  impossible.  But  when 
our  eye  is  set  not  merely  upon  the  adjustments  of 
this  life,  but  upon  salvation  from  the  dreadful 
wrath  of  God  that  burns  against  our  sin  conceived 
as  guilt,  what  hope  can  be  placed  in  man  himself, 
or  any  power  he  may  be  thought  to  possess,  to 
work  out  deliverance?  Accordingly,  Paul  preaches 
a  gospel  not  fundamentally  of  effort  from  within, 
but  of  deliverance  from  without.  Its  core,  its 
substance,  as  we  have  repeatedly  pointed  out,  lies 
in  the  great  proclamation  of  "  Jesus  our  deliverer 
from  the  coming  wrath,"  or,  more  fully  stated,  in 
the  offer  of  "  salvation  through  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  who  died  for  us  that  we  should  live  with 
Him." 

It  is  not  merely  a  salvation,  then,  that  Paul 
preaches,  but  above  everything  else,  a  Saviour; 
and  the  whole  nerve  of  his  gospel  lies  in  the 
assumption  that  salvation  to  us  men,  immersed  in 
sin  and  cowering  under  the  righteous  wrath  of 
God,  were  impossible  save  through  this  Saviour. 
Therein,  indeed,  lies  its  whole  character  as  a 
gospel,  good  news,  glad  tidings.  To  us,  helpless 
and  hopeless  in  our  sins,  unable  to  free  ourselves 
from  either  the  tyranny  or  curse  of  sin,  Paul  comes 
proclaiming  a  deliverer,  in  whose  hands  lies  salva- 


202     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

tion.  For,  as  we  have  already  said,  it  is  not  Jesus 
simplicitcr  that  constitutes  the  substance  of  Paul's 
gospel,  but,  as  he  phrases  it  elsewhere,  Jesus  as 
crucified {\  Cor.  ii.  2) — Jesus  our  deliverer  from  the 
coming  wrath — salvation  through  Jesus  Christ, 
who  died  for  us  that  we  should  live  together  with 
Him. 

It  does  not  fall  in  Paul's  way  in  this  brief  epistle 
to  give  any  very  full  description  of  how  Jesus 
saves  from  wrath.  But  enough  is  dropped  inci- 
dentally to  assure  us  of  the  outlines  of  His  doctrine 
even  here.  Clearly  the  stress  is  thrown  not  on 
our  Lord's  person,  but  on  His  work.  Not,  of 
course,  as  if  His  person  were  treated  as  of  no 
importance.  He  is  ever  "the  Lord"  to  Paul  (i.  6; 
ii.  15;  iv.  I,  2,  15,  16,  17;  V.  2,  12,  28),  and  that 
in  the  most  exalted  sense ;  or,  with  loving  appro- 
priation, "  our  Lord  "  (i.  2  ;  iii.  11,13;  v.  9,  24,  28). 
He  is  God's  unique  Son  (i.  10),  in  whom  all  Christian 
graces  move  as  their  sphere  (i.  3;  iii.  8;  iv.  i,  2), 
and  who  along  with  God  is  the  determiner  of  the 
ways  of  men  (iii.  11),  and  from  whom  grace  is 
invoked  for  men  (iii.  13;  v.  28).  But  the  entire 
stress  of  the  proclamation  is  thrown  on  His  having 
become  our  deliverer  from  the  cominsr  wrath 
specifically  through  His  work  on  our  behalf — and 
more   particularly  by   His   death  for   us   (v.    10). 


PAUL'S  EARLIEST  GOSPEL  203 

With  His  death  the  resurrection  of  Christ  is  con- 
nected as  the  object  of  faith  for  behevers  (i.  10; 
iv.  14);  and  with  these  His  second  coming  from 
heaven,  to  close  the  drama  on  earth  with  a  final 
assize,  is  associated  as  the  object  of  the  Christian's 
loving  expectation  (i.  10;  ii.  19;  iii.  13;  iv.  14,  15, 
17;  V.  2,  23),  since  in  it  his  salvation  will  be 
completed.  But  it  is  especially  the  death  of  Christ 
that  is  signalized  as  the  hinge  of  His  saving  grace. 
He  died  for  us  that  we  should  live  with  Him  (v. 
10).  It  is  that  He  died  and  rose  again  that  we 
must  believe  (iv.  14)  if  we  are  to  be  brought  with 
Him  at  the  last  day.  It  was,  in  a  word,  in  His 
death  that  He,  whom  God  has  raised  from  the 
dead  and  who  now  sits  in  heaven  waiting  until 
the  time  of  His  return  shall  arrive — the  day  of  the 
Lord,  which  shall  come  not  when  men  expect  it, 
but  when  it  suits  His  ends — has  accomplished  our 
salvation,  our  deliverance  from  the  wrath  to  come. 
And  it  is  precisely  at  this  point  that  we  reach 
the  center  of  the  center,  the  heart  of  the  heart  of 
Paul's  gospel.  The  glad  tidings  he  bore  to  the 
Thessalonians  were  tidings  of  death — of  a  hideous 
death,  a  death  which  he  can  think  of  only  with 
horror  and  with  reprobation  of  those  who  inflicted 
it.  "Who  hath  killed  the  Lord,"  he  says— 
instinctively  arranging  the  words  so  as  to  bring 


204     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

out  the  enormity  of  the  deed :  "  who  it  was  who 
the  very  Lord  Himself  have  killed,  Jesus,  and 
also  the  prophets  " — when  his  indignation  arises 
against  the  Jews  who  are  piling  up  their  sins 
always,  and  over  whom  the  wrath  of  God  is,  he 
says,  hanging  like  a  surcharged  cloud  ready  to 
burst.  But  it  was  a  death,  on  the  other  hand, 
that  in  another  aspect  of  it  was  a  glorious  death — 
a  death  for  us  by  which  we  are  saved  from  death, 
and  Christ  is  made  our  deliverer.  "  He  died  for 
us  that  we  should  live  with  Him!"  There  is  the 
very  kernel  of  Paul's  gospel. 

It  will  scarcely  require  emphasizing,  therefore, 
that  Paul's  gospel  to  the  Thessalonians  was, 
further,  emphatically  a  supernaturalistic  gospel. 

A  gospel  that  comes  proclaiming  salvation  to 
sinful  men  by  the  death  of  the  Son  of  God — slain, 
indeed,  by  the  wicked  hands  of  men  to  their  own 
undoing,  but  slain,  on  the  other  hand,  in  His 
own  purpose,  for  the  deliverance  of  His  people 
from  the  coming  wrath — must  needs  be  super- 
naturalistic  to  the  core.  And  so  it  is  in  every 
item  of  Paul's  representation  of  it.  The  deliver- 
ance which  it  proclaims  is  a  deliverance  more 
especially,  not  from  earthly  ills  or  even  from 
earthly  suffering,   but  from  the  wrath  to   come. 


PAUL'S  EARLIEST  GOSPEL  205 

And  as  Paul  tears  aside  the  veil  that  hides  the 
future,  he  tears  aside  with  it  the  veil  that  covers 
the  vast  reaches  of  the  heavenly  places,  and  bids 
us  raise  our  eyes  from  the  earth  and  the  forces 
that  operate  in  the  ordinary  events  of  the  earth, 
and  look  up  to  that  broader  stage  where  the 
drama  of  eternity  is  being  played.  The  very 
eschatological  character  of  the  deliverance  which 
he  is  announcing  involves  an  emphasis  on  the 
supernatural  which  is  almost  extreme.  Hence  we 
are  bidden  to  seek  not  on  earth  but  in  heaven  for 
our  deliverer  (i.  10);  whence  also  He  is  to  come 
in  His  own  time — with  all  His  saints — and  those 
that  have  fallen  asleep  in  Jesus  are  to  rise,  to  be 
caught  up  on  the  clouds  and  to  meet  Him  in  the 
air  as  He  descends  from  heaven  with  a  shout,  with 
the  voice  of  the  archangel  and  with  the  trump  of 
God.  There  is  surely  no  chariness  of  the  super- 
natural in  the  painting  of  this  scene ;  and  this  is 
the  scene  of  the  final  act  in  the  drama  of  salva- 
tion. 

But  no  less  really  supernaturalistic  is  Paul's 
conception  of  those  processes  in  the  working  out 
of  the  deliverance  which  appeal  less  to  the  out- 
ward eye  as  the  wonderful  works  of  God ;  but  to 
his  inner  apprehension  clearly  evinced  themselves 
as   nevertheless   equally   of   God.     How   is   this 


2o6     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

tremendous  deliverance,  for  example,  made  the 
possession  of  men  ?  How  was  it  that  he  himself 
and  these  Thessalonian  Christians  to  whom  he 
was  writing  were  made  sharers  in  this  great  deliver- 
ance ?  To  Paul  this  too  was  directly  of  God. 
He  conceived  it,  in  his  gospel,  as  just  as  super- 
natural an  occurrence  as  the  blast  of  the  trumpet 
of  God  itself,  at  that  day,  which  shall  raise  the 
dead.  This  is,  indeed,  suggested  to  us  in  the 
words  we  have  taken  as  our  text;  or,  to  speak 
more  correctly,  it  is  the  open  assertion  of  every 
one  of  the  clauses  which  we  have  brought  together 
in  the  text.  It  is,  for  example,  to  God  that  he 
gives  thanks  for  the  Christian  virtues  of  his  con- 
verts. Why  ?  He  tells  us  himself  It  is  because 
the  very  fact  that  they  are  Christians  at  all,  that 
they  received  the  gospel  he  brought  to  them,  as 
well  as  all  the  subsequent  fruits  of  their  new  lives, 
are  proof  of  their  election  thereunto.  Wherefrom 
it  is  easy  to  infer  that  in  his  view  it  is  of  God 
alone  that  man  believes  in  the  gospel  of  deliver- 
ance through  His  dear  Son.  Again,  when  he 
would  prepare  his  readers  for  the  prospect  of  the 
sudden  coming  of  Christ  as  avenger  upon  those 
who  are  not  in  Him,  he  does  it,  not  by  pointing  to 
anything  that  they  can  do  for  themselves  to  escape 
the  impending  doom,  but  by  assuring  them  that 


PAUL'S  EARLIEST  GOSPEL  207 

they  have  been  appointed  of  God  not  to  wrath, 
but  to  the  obtaining  of  salvation.  And,  once 
again,  when  he  would  encourage  them,  in  their 
known  shortcomings,  yet  to  hope  for  a  blameless 
standing  before  the  judgment  seat  of  God,  he  does 
it,  not  by  appealing  to  their  own  powers  of  will 
and  action,  and  so  stirring  them  up  to  new  en- 
deavors, but  by  pointing  to  God  :  "  Faithful  is  He 
that  calleth  you,  who  also  will  do  it."  In  each 
and  every  case,  in  fine,  it  is  to  God  that  he  raises 
their  eyes  as  to  the  author  of  all  that  is  good 
within  them,  as  well  as  of  all  that  is  good  in  store 
for  therfi.  That  they  are  in  Christ  at  all  is  of 
God;  that  they  shall  abide  in  Him  is  of  God; 
that  they  shall  be  fit  to  receive  the  reward  in  the 
end  is  of  God.  It  is  all  of  God  and  nothing  at  all 
of  it  is  of  themselves.  From  this  plane  of  high 
supernaturalism  in  the  application  of  the  salvation 
wrought  by  the  death  of  Christ  the  apostle  departs 
in  no  single  word  in  the  whole  epistle. 

Participation  in  this  salvation  is  certainly  sus- 
pended on  the  proclamation  and  acceptance  of 
the  gospel.  The  very  ground  of  Paul's  thanks 
to  God  in  behalf  of  the  Thessalonians  is  that  they 
had  accepted  the  gospel  (i.  2,  6;  ii.  13).  The 
very  ground  of  his  joy  in  being  approved  of  God 
to  be  intrusted  with  this  gospel  turns  on  the  ines- 


2o8     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

timable  importance  of  its  proclamation ;  and  Paul 
spared  himself  in  nothing  that  he  might  proclaim 
it  and  proclaim  it  in  its  purity  and  with  eager  zeal 
(ii.  i).  He  distinctly  declares,  indeed,  that  the 
salvation  of  men  depends  on  the  gospel  reaching 
them,  and  makes  it  accordingly  one  of  the  chief 
counts  in  his  terrible  arraignment  of  the  Jews 
that  they  showed  themselves  haters  of  men  in 
forbidding  him  to  speak  to  the  Gentiles  that  they 
might  be  saved  (ii.  i6).  Obviously,  where  the 
gospel  is  not  conveyed,  there  is  no  salvation ; 
where  the  gospel,  though  conveyed,  is  not 
accepted,  there  is  no  salvation. 

But  it  does  not  at  all  follow,  and  Paul  does 
not  permit  his  readers  for  a  moment  to  imagine 
that  in  his  view  it  followed,  that  nothing  is 
implied  in  its  acceptance  beyond  opportunity  to 
hear  the  gospel  and  a  native  movement  of  the 
natural  will  toward  its  acceptance.  To  him,  on 
the  contrary,  man  as  a  sinner  is  not  an  accepter 
of  the  gospel  proclamation.  That  he  ever  accepts 
it  is  due  proximately  to  a  "  call "  from  God — a 
call  that  operates  within,  at  the  center  of  his 
activities ;  and  ultimately  to  his  selection  by  God 
to  be  a  recipient  of  His  grace.  Accordingly,  it 
is  God  that  Paul  thanks  for  the  entrance  of  his 
readers  into  the  Christian  life  and  hope,  and  it  is 


PAUL'S  EARLIEST  GOSPEL  209 

to  His  election  that  he  traces  the  fact  of  their 
acceptance  of  the  gospel  (ii.  2).  And  he  emphat- 
ically declares  that  it  is  God  that  called  His  con- 
verts into  His  own  kingdom  and  glory  (ii.  13) — 
into  His  own  kingdom  and  glory,  as  one  would 
say,  Who  else  can  have  the  power  to  dispose 
of  these  but  He  ?  (iv.  7).  Accordingly,  too,  Paul 
points  his  readers  to  this  God  who  has  called  us 
not  for  uncleanness,  but  in  sanctification,  as  to 
one  who  employs  a  mode  of  action  which  will 
not  let  his  purpose  in  the  call  fail :  ''  Faithful  is 
He  that  calleth  you,  who  also  will  do  it"  This 
"  caller,"  in  other  words,  is  emphatically  also  the 
"  performer." 

So  little  does  there  lie  in  Paul's  mind  a  sense 
of  inconsistency  between  the  two  ideas  of  salva- 
tion coming  to  men  through  their  acceptance 
of  the  truth  and  salvation  communicated  to  men 
by  the  appointment  of  God,  that  in  the  central 
passage  of  all,  in  which  the  terms  of  his  gospel 
are  most  fully  set  forth,  he  brings  the  two  ideas 
together  in  the  most  significant  manner.  Fear 
not,  he  says,  for  God  appointed  us,  "not  unto 
wrath,  but" — you  will  observe  he  does  not  say 
simply  "but  unto  salvation,"  but,  bringing  out 
our  personal  act  in  receiving  it,  "but  unto  the 
obtaining,  the  acquisition  of  salvation  through 
14 


2IO     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

our  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  It  is  our  "acquisition" 
— this  salvation  ;  and  it  comes  to  none  who  do 
not  receive  it.  But  that  we  acquire  it,  that  we 
receive  it  by  whatever  subjective  act,  is  only  be- 
cause of  our  appointment  thereunto  by  God ;  or, 
as  Paul  puts  it  in  the  parallel  passage  in  the 
second  epistle,  because  "  God  has  chosen  us  from 
the  beginning  unto  salvation  in  sanctification  of 
the  Spirit  and  belief  of  the  truth,  whereunto  He 
called  us  through  the  gospel  unto  the  obtaining 
of  the  glory  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ "  (2  Thes. 
ii.  13). 

Thus,  whenever  Paul  touches  on  the  matter, 
he  takes  us  at  once  back  to  God,  and  exhibits  in 
the  fullest  light  the  inherent  supernaturalism  of 
His  gospel.  It  is  a  gospel  of  salvation  by  the 
mighty  power  of  God,  prepared  for  in  our  eternal 
election,  applied  in  our  effectual  call,  completed 
by  a  prevalent  keeping,  and  issuing  at  last  in 
entrance  into  glory — all  through  the  constant 
work  of  God,  the  faithful  performer. 

It  is  plain,  therefore,  that  Paul's  gospel  to  the 
Thessalonians  was  a  gospel  in  which  all  the  glory 
is  given  to  God. 

Its  note  from  beginning  to  end  is  the  note  of 
soli  Deo  gloria.     It  is  God,  we  repeat,  whom  he 


PAUL'S  EARLIEST  GOSPEL  211 

thanks  for  eveiy  Christian  grace  that  he  discovers 
in  his  readers.  It  is  to  God  that  he  ascribes  their 
very  acceptance  of  the  gospel  that  was  offered 
them — to  God  who  "  called  "  them  into  His  own 
kingdom  and  glory.  It  is  to  God  that  he  ascribes 
every  step  they  take  in  the  Hfe  of  holiness  into 
which  they  have  been  called.  It  is  to  God  that 
he  prays  that  they  may  be  perfected  in  their  sanc- 
tification,  and  presented  blameless  before  the 
throne  of  judgment  at  the  last  day.  It  is  to  God 
that  he  ascribes  their  keeping  until  that  dread 
event.  It  is  on  God's  faithfulness — the  faithful- 
ness of  Him  that  calls — that  he  hangs  all  his  and 
his  converts'  hopes  of  escaping  the  wrath  they 
know  they  deserve :  "  Faithful  is  He  that  calleth 
you,  who  also  will  do  it." 

It  is  all  of  God ;  nothing  is,  in  the  ultimate 
analysis,  of  man.  Man  provides  only  the  sinner 
to  be  saved :  God  provides  the  entire  salvation. 
And  though  it  is  a  man  that  God  saves,  and 
though  He  saves  him,  therefore,  as  a  man,  and  as 
a  man  in  the  full  exercise  of  all  his  activities  that 
belong  to  him  as  a  man — so  that  he  is  saved  by 
the  acceptance  of  the  truth,  in  a  life  of  holiness, 
through  a  perseverance  in  sanctiflcation  to  the 
end — yet  it  is  always  and  ever  God  to  whom  the 
acceptance,  the  walk,  the  endurance  is  due ;  who, 


212     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

in  a  word,  is  working  at  every  step  and  in  every 
stage  both  the  wilhng  and  the  doing  in  accord- 
ance with  His  own  good  pleasure.  The  details 
of  God's  modes  of  operation  in  bringing  the  ves- 
sels of  His  election,  whom  He  has  appointed  not 
to  wrath  but  to  the  obtaining  of  salvation,  to 
entrance  into  His  own  kingdom  and  glory,  are 
indeed  little  dwelt  upon  here.  We  hear  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  as  the  agent  in  performing  the  work, 
certainly  (iv.  8 ;  i.  5,  6;  [v.  19]),  but  only  incident- 
ally, without  pause  for  explanation.  But  the  fact 
of  the  dependence  of  the  whole  process  of  salva- 
tion on  the  loving  will  of  the  Father,  who  selects 
and  calls  and  sanctifies  and  glorifies  whom  He 
will,  is  the  underlying  assumption  in  every  allu- 
sion. The  soli  Deo  gloria  sounds  from  end  to 
end  of  the  epistle  as  its  dominant  note. 

And  therefore,  finally,  the  gospel  of  Paul  to 
the  Thessalonians  is  emphatically  a  gospel  of 
faith,  a  gospel  of  trust. 

The  terms  "  believe  "  and  "  faith  "  do  not  occur 
with  any  especial  frequency  in  this  epistle  (i.  7 ; 
ii.  10,  13;  iv.  4;  i.  3,  8;  iii.  2,  5;  vi.  10;  v.  8). 
But  the  thing  is  a  fundamental  note  of  the  whole 
letter.  Just  because  the  whole  of  salvation  as 
proclaimed  in  Paul's  gospel,  in  each  of  its  steps 


PAUL'S  EARLIEST  GOSPEL  213 

and  stages,  runs  back  to  God  as  its  author  and 
furtherer,  a  continual  sense  of  humble  depend- 
ence on  God  and  of  loving  trust  in  Him  is  by  it 
formed  and  fostered  in  every  heart  into  which  it 
makes  entrance.  Under  the  teachings  of  this 
gospel  the  eye  is  withdrawn  from  self  and  the  face 
turned  upward  in  loving  gratitude  to  God,  the 
great  giver. 

Now  this  attitude  of  trust  and  dependence  on 
God  is  just  the  very  essence  of  religion.  In  pro- 
portion as  any  sense  of  self-sufficiency  or  any 
dependence  on  self  enters  the  heart,  in  that  pro- 
portion religion  is  driven  from  it.  And  what 
other  attitude  is  becoming  or,  indeed,  possible  in 
weak  and  sinful  man  ?  Can  he  wrest  salvation 
from  the  unwilling  hands  of  God  ?  Can  he  retain 
it  in  his  powerless  grasp  when  once  it  is  given 
him  ?  No.  If  he  is  to  be  saved  at  all,  it  must  be 
God  that  saves  him  ;  and  the  beginning  and  middle 
and  end  of  his  salvation  must  be  alike  of  God. 
Every  sinner,  when  once  aroused  to  the  sense  of 
his  sin,  knows  this  for  himself — knows  it  in  the 
times  of  his  clearest  vision  and  deepest  compre- 
hension with  a  poignancy  that  drives  him  to  despair, 
Paul's  gospel  meets  the  sinner's  need ;  it  provides 
a  salvation  from  without,  every  step  of  which  is 
of  God.     And  it  meets  also  the  highest  aspirations 


214     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

of  the  saint  as  well :  for  it  justifies  and  strengthens 
his  instinctive  attitude  of  trust  and  his  ineradicable 
conviction  of  dependence  on  the  God  of  all  grace. 
In  one  word,  Paul's  gospel  to  the  Thessalonians, 
being  through  and  through  a  gospel  of  trust, 
reveals  itself  to  us  as  a  gospel,  as  the  only  gospel, 
in  which  religion  comes  to  its  rights  and  by  which 
the  heart  is  drawn  upward  to  the  great  heart  of 
God,  and  is  immovably  attached  to  it  in  adoring 
love. 

Oh,  brethren,  was  this  gospel  for  the  Thessalo- 
nians only?  Or  shall  we  not  hearken  to  it  as 
also  a  gospel  for  us,  to-day  ?  Are  we  not,  in  our 
native  condition,  in  like  case  with  those  to  whom 
Paul  first  taught  it?  We  look  within  us,  and 
what  do  we  see  there  but  foul  corruption,  festering 
to  spiritual  death  ?  We  raise  our  eyes  to  heaven, 
and  what  do  we  observe  there  but  the  wrath  of 
God  turned  against  every  doer  of  iniquity  ?  We 
cast  our  eyes  forward  and  peer  into  the  future, 
and  what  can  we  discern  as  the  closing  scene  of 
this  drama  of  time  in  which  our  parts  are  cast 
but  a  dread  day  of  judgment,  when  we  shall 
receive  the  due  reward  of  our  wicked  hearts  and 
evil  deeds  ?     Does  not  the  cry  rise  to  the  lips  of 


PAUL'S  EARLIEST  GOSPEL  215 

each  of  us  as  that  scene  takes  form  more  and 
more  sharply  in  our  vision, — 

«*  That  fearful  day,  that  day  of  speechless  dread, 
When  Thou  shalt  come,  to  judge  the  quick  and  dead — 
I  shudder  to  foresee, 
Oh,  God,  what  then  shall  be  ?" 

Oh,  what  glad  tidings  it  is  to  hear  of  "  Jesus  our 
deliverer  from  the  coming  wrath  " — of  a  salvation 
through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  has  died  for 
us  that  we  should  live  with  Him,  to  which,  rather 
than  to  this  impending  wrath,  God  has  appointed 
us ! 

God  has  appointed  us !  Let  us  note  that  clause 
— for,  ah,  do  we  not  know  that  it  is  not  to  this 
that  we  have  appointed  ourselves  ?  Does  not  the 
proof  of  this  lie  all  around  us  ?  Did  we  turn 
ourselves  from  our  sins,  or  did  we  not  rather 
delight  ourselves  in  them  ?  Was  it  we  who 
sought  out  the  ways  of  peace  and  joy,  or  did  we 
not  from  the  beginning  scorn  them  and  love 
rather  the  pursuit  of  evil  ?  Can  we  even  to-day 
keep  our  feet  from  falling  ?  Oh,  how  we  slip ! 
Nay,  how  we  willfully  turn  aside  to  do  our  own 
deeds  !  When  we  observe  our  ways,  do  we  not 
know  that  it  is  not  in  us  to  attain  the  good  ?  Let 
us  hear,  then,  the  rest  of  this  gospel :  "  Faithful  is 


2i6     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

He  that  calleth  you,  and  it  is  He  who  will  also  do 
it."  As  it  is  He  that  has  given  His  Son  to  die 
for  us ;  as  it  is  He  who  has  appointed  us  to  salva- 
tion in  Him ;  as  it  is  He  that  has  called  us  into 
communion  with  His  holy  life ;  so  it  is  He  who 
will  complete  the  work  He  has  begun  in  us — it  is 
He  that  will  bring  us  in  gladness  to  the  goal.  Let 
us  trust,  then,  in  Him !  Let  us  trust,  then,  in  Him ! 
For  it  is  in  this  trust — this  trust  in  God,  who  is  at 
once  our  Saviour  and  our  salvation — that  begins 
and  centers  and  ends  all  our  personal  religion ; 
that  begins  and  centers  and  ends  all  our  rational 
hope ;  that  begins  and  centers  and  ends  all  our 
salvation.  It  is  He  that  saves  us  and  not  we 
ourselves.  Let  us  trust,  then,  in  Him !  Let  us 
trust  in  Him ! 


VIII 

FALSE  RELIGIONS  AND  THE 

TRUE 


VIII 

FALSE   RELIGIONS  AND   THE  TRUE 

"  What  therefore  ye  worship  in  ignorance,  this  set  I  forth  unto 
you." — Acts  xvii.  23.     (R.  V.) 

These  words  give  the  gist  of  Paul's  justly 
famous  address  at  Athens  before  the  court  of  the 
Areopagus.  The  substance  of  that  address  was, 
to  be  sure,  just  what  the  substance  of  all  his 
primary  proclamations  to  Gentile  hearers  was, 
namely,  God  and  the  judgment.  The  necessities 
of  the  case  compelled  him  to  approach  the 
heathen  along  the  avenue  of  an  awakened  con- 
science. They  had  not  been  prepared  for  the 
preaching  of  Jesus  by  a  training  under  the  old 
covenant,  and  no  appeals  to  prophecy  and  its  ful- 
fillment could  be  made  to  them.  God  and  the 
judgment  necessarily  constituted,  therefore,  the 
staple  of  his  proclamation  to  them ;  and  so  typi- 
cal an  instance  as  this  address  to  the  Areopagus 
could  not  fail  to  exhibit  the  characteristics  of  its 
class  with  especial  purity. 

Nevertheless,    the    peculiar    circumstances    in 

219 


220     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

which  it  was  deHvered  have  imprinted  on  this 
address  also  a  particular  character  of  its  own. 
Paul  spoke  it  under  a  specially  poignant  sense 
of  the  depths  of  heathen  ignorance  and  of  the 
greatness  of  heathen  need.  The  whole  address 
palpitates  with  his  profound  feeling  of  the  darkness 
in  which  the  heathen  world  is  immersed,  and  his 
eager  longing  to  communicate  to  it  the  light 
intrusted  to  his  care.  All  that  goes  before  the 
words  selected  for  the  text  and  all  that  comes 
after  serve  but  to  enhance  their  great  declaration 
— build  for  it,  as  it  were,  but  a  lofty  platform  upon 
which  it  is  raised  to  fix  the  gaze  of  men.  Out  of 
it  all  Paul  fairly  shouts  this  one  essential  message 
to  the  whole  unbelieving  world  :  "  What  therefore 
ye  worship  in  ignorance,  this  set  I  forth  unto 
you." 

Let  us  consider  for  a  little  while  the  circum- 
stances in  which  the  address  was  delivered. 
Summoned  by  a  supernatural  vision,  Paul  had 
crossed  the  sea  and  brought  the  gospel  into 
Europe.  Landing  in  Macedonia,  he  had  preached 
in  its  chief  cities,  meeting  on  the  one  hand  with 
great  acceptance,  and  arousing  on  the  other  the 
intensest  opposition.  He  had  been  driven  from 
city  to  city  until  the  brethren  had  at  last  fled  with 


FALSE  RELIGIONS  AND  THE  TRUE        221 

him  to  the  sea  and,  hurrying  him  upon  a  ship, 
had  conveyed  him  far  to  the  south  and,  at  last, 
landed  him  at  Athens.  There  they  left  him — 
alone  but  in  safety — and  returned  to  Macedonia 
to  send  his  companions  to  him. 

Meanwhile  Paul  awaited  their  coming  at 
Athens.  Athens !  mother  of  wisdom,  mistress 
of  art ;  but  famous,  perhaps,  above  all  its  wisdom 
and  above  all  its  art  for  the  intensity  of  its  devo- 
tion to  the  gods.  Paul  had  had  a  missionary's 
experience  with  idolatry,  in  its  grosser  and  more 
refined  forms  alike ;  he  had  been  forced  into  con- 
tact with  it  throughout  his  Asian  work.  Even 
so,  Athens  seems  to  have  been  a  revelation  to 
him — a  revelation  which  brought  him  nothing 
less  than  a  shock.  Here  he  was  literally  in  the 
thick  of  it.  No  other  nation  was  so  given  over 
to  idolatry  as  the  Athenians.  One  writer  tells  us 
that  it  was  easier  to  find  a  god  in  populous 
Athens  than  a  man ;  another,  scarcely  exaggerat- 
ing, declares  that  the  whole  city  was  one  great 
altar,  one  great  sacrifice,  one  great  votive  offer- 
ing. The  place  seemed  to  Paul  studded  with 
idols,  and  the  sight  of  it  all  brought  him  a  par- 
oxysm of  grief  and  concern. 

He  was  in  Athens,  as  it  were,  in  hiding.     But  he 
could  not  keep  silence.     He  went  to  the  syna- 


222     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

gogue  on  the  Sabbath  and  there  preached  to  the 
Jews  and  those  devout  inquirers  who  were  accus- 
tomed to  visit  the  synagogues  of  the  Jews  in 
every  city.  But  this  did  not  satisfy  his  aroused 
zeal.  He  went  also  to  the  market  place — that 
agora  which  the  public  teachers  of  the  city  had 
been  wont  to  frequent  for  the  propagation  of 
their  views — and  there,  like  them,  every  day,  he 
argued  with  all  whom  he  chanced  to  meet. 
Among  these  he  very  naturally  encountered  cer- 
tain adherents  of  the  types  of  philosophy  then 
dominant — the  Epicurean  and  Stoic — and  in  con- 
flict with  them  he  began  to  attract  attention. 

He  was  preaching,  as  was  his  wont,  "Jesus" 
and  the  "  resurrection  " — doubtless  much  as  he 
preached  them  in  his  recorded  address,  to  which 
all  this  led  up.  Some  turned  with  light  con- 
tempt away  from  him  and  called  him  a  mere  smat- 
terer;  others,  with  perhaps  no  less  contempt, 
nevertheless  took  him  more  seriously  and  anx- 
iously asked  if  he  were  not  "  a  proclaimer  of  alien 
divinities."  This  was  an  offense  in  Athens;  and 
so  they  brought  him  to  the  Areopagus.  He  was 
not  formally  arraigned  for  trial — there  was  only 
set  on  foot  something  like  a  preliminary  official 
inquiry;  and  the  question  put  to  him  is  oddly 
compounded  of  courteous  suggestion  and  author- 


FALSE  RELIGIONS  AND  THE  TRUE        223 

itative  demand.  They  said  :  ''  May  we  be  allowed 
to  know  what  this  new  teaching  is  that  is  talked 
of  by  thee  ?  For  thou  dost  bring  certain  strange 
things  to  our  ears ;  and  it  is  our  wish  to  know 
what  these  things  may  be."  The  hand  is  gloved, 
but  you  see  the  iron  showing  through.  It  was 
to  Paul,  however,  only  another  opportunity;  and 
in  the  conscious  authority  of  his  great  mission  he 
stood  forth  in  the  midst  of  the  court  and  besran 
to  speak. 

We  must  bear  in  mind  that  Paul  was  put 
to  the  question  on  the  general  charge  that  he 
was  "a  proclaimer  of  strange  deities."  He  had 
no  intention  whatever  of  denying  this  general  alle- 
gation. He  was  rather  firmly  determined  to  seize 
this  opportunity  yet  once  more  to  proclaim  a 
Deity  evidently  unknown  to  the  Athenians.  And 
this,  in  fact,  he  proceeded  at  once  to  do.  But  he 
did  it  after  a  fashion  which  disarmed  the  com- 
plaint; which  enlisted  the  Athenians  themselves  as 
unwilling  indeed,  but  nevertheless  real,  worship- 
ers of  the  God  he  proclaimed ;  and  which  power- 
fully pried  at  their  consciences  as  well  as  appealed 
to  their  intelligences  and  even  their  national  pride 
to  give  wings  to  his  proclamation. 

The  hinge  on  which  the  whole  speech  turns 


224     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

is  obviously  Paul's  deep  sense  of  the  darkness  of 
heathen  ignorance.  As  our  Saviour  said  to  the 
Samaritan  woman,  so  Paul,  in  effect,  says  to  the 
Athenian  jurists  and  philosophers,  "  You  worship 
you  know  not  what."  The  altar  at  Athens  which 
he  signalizes  as  especially  significant  of  heathen 
worship  is  precisely  the  altar  inscribed  "To  a  Not- 
known  God."  The  whole  course  of  their  heathen 
development  he  characterizes  as  a  seeking  of  God, 
if  by  any  chance — "  in  the  possible  hope  at  least 
that" — they  may  touch  Him  as  a  blind  man 
touches  with  his  hands  fumblingly  what  he  cannot 
see — and  so  doubtfully  find  Him;  nay,  shortly 
and  crisply,  as  "  times  of  ignorance."  The  very 
purpose  of  his  proclamation  of  his  gospel  among 
them  is  to  bring  light  into  this  darkness,  to  make 
them  to  know  the  true  nature  and  the  real  modes 
of  working,  the  all-inclusive  plan  and  the  decisive 
purpose  of  the  one  true  God.  Therefore  it  is 
simply  true  to  say  that  the  hinge  on  which  the 
whole  speech  turns  is  the  declaration  that  the 
heathen  are  steeped  in  ignorance  and  require, 
above  all  things,  the  light  of  divine  instruction. 

But  when  we  have  said  this  we  have  not  said 
all.  After  all,  it  is  not  quite  a  blank  ignorance 
that  Paul  ascribes  to  the  Athenians.  He  institutes 
a  certain  connection  between  what  they  worship 


FALSE  RELIGIONS  AND  THE  TRUE        225 

and  the  God  he  was  commending  to  them.  He 
does  not  wholly  scoff  at  their  religion,  though  he 
certainly  sharply  reprobates  and  deeply  despises 
the  modes  in  which  it  expresses  itself.  He  does 
not  entirely  condemn  their  worship  even  of  a  not- 
known  god ;  he  rather  makes  it  a  point  of  attach- 
ment for  proclaiming  the  higher  worship  of  the 
known  God  of  heaven  and  earth  which  he  is 
recommending  to  them.  There  is,  in  a  word,  a 
certain  amount  of  recognition  accorded  by  him  to 
their  religious  feelings  and  aspirations. 

It  is  accordingly  not  all  a  scoff  when  he  tells  them 
that  he  perceives  that  they  are  apparently  "  very 
religious."  The  word  he  employs  is  no  doubt 
sometimes  used  in  a  bad  sense,  and  accordingly  is 
frequently  translated  here  by  the  ill-savored  word 
"superstitious."  So  our  English  version  trans- 
lates it :  "I  perceive  that  in  all  things  ye  are  too 
superstitious  "  or  "  somewhat  superstitious,"  as  the 
Revised  Version  puts  it.  But  it  is  scarcely  possi- 
ble to  believe  that  Paul  uses  it  in  this  evil  sense 
here.  It  means  in  itself  nothing  but  "  divinity- 
fearing" — not  exactly  "  God-fearing,"  though  gen- 
erally equivalent  to  that,  because  it  has  a  hint  in 
it  of  the  gods  many  and  lords  many  of  the  heathen. 
It  easily,  therefore,  lends  itself  to  a  bad  sense,  and 
is  often,  as  we  have  seen,  so  used.  But  as  often 
15 


226     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

it  is  used  in  a  perfectly  good  sense,  as  equivalent 
simply  to  "  religious,"  and  surely  it  is  so  used 
here.  Paul  is  not  charging  his  hearers  with  super- 
stition; he  is  recognizing  in  them  a  religious 
disposition.  He  chooses  a  term,  indeed,  of  some- 
what non-committal  character — which  would  not 
say  too  much — which  might  be  taken  perhaps  as 
bearing  a  subtle  implication  of  incomplete  ap- 
proval :  but  a  word  by  which  he  expresses  at  least 
no  active  disapproval  and  even  a  certain  measure 
of  active  approval.  Paul,  in  fine,  commends  the 
religiousness  of  the  Athenians. 

The  forms  in  which  this  religiousness  expressed 
itself  he  does  not  commend.  The  sight  of  them, 
indeed,  threw  him  into  a  paroxysm  of  distress,  if 
not  of  indignation.  He  could  not  view  without 
disgust  and  horror  the  degradation  of  their  wor- 
ship. In  one  sense  we  may  say  that  it  reached 
its  lowest  level  in  this  altar,  "  To  a  Not-known 
God."  For  what  could  be  worse  than  the  super- 
stitious dread  which,  after  cramming  every  corner 
of  the  city  with  altars  to  every  conceivable  divinity, 
was  not  yet  satisfied,  but  must  needs  feel  blindly 
out  after  still  some  other  power  of  earth  or  air 
or  sky  to  which  to  immolate  victims  or  before 
which  to  cringe  in  unintelligent  fear?  But  in 
another  aspect  it  may  even  have  seemed  to  Paul 


FALSE  RELIGIONS  AND  THE  TRUE        227 

that  in  this  altar  might  rather  be  seen  the  least 
degraded  expression  of  the  religious  aspirations 
of  the  Athenians.  Where  every  definite  trait  given 
to  their  conceptions  of  divinity  was  but  a  new 
degradation  of  the  idea  of  the  divine,  there  is  a 
certain  advantage  attaching  to  vagueness.  At 
least  no  distinctive  foulness  was  attributed  to  a 
god  confessedly  unknown.  Perhaps  just  because 
of  its  undifferentiation  and  indefiniteness  it  might 
therefore  seem  a  purer  symbol  of  that  seeking 
after  God  for  which  God  had  destined  all  nations 
when  He  appointed  to  them  the  ordained  times 
and  limits  of  their  habitation,  if  by  any  chance 
they  might  feel  Him  and  so  find  Him.  Surely 
the  forms  they  gave  to  the  gods  they  more  defi- 
nitely conceived,  the  characters  they  ascribed  to 
them,  the  functions  they  assigned  them,  and  the 
legendary  stories  of  their  activities  which  they 
wove  around  them,  sufficiently  evinced  that  in 
them  the  Athenians  had  not  so  much  as  fumblingly 
touched  God,  much  less  found  Him.  A  worship 
offered  to  "  an  unknown  god "  was  at  least  free 
from  the  horror  of  definitely  conceiving  God  as 
corruptible  men  and  birds  and  fourfooted  beasts 
and  creeping  things. 

In  any  event,  behind  the  worship,  however  ill 
conceived,  Paul  sees  and  recognizes  the  working 


228     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

of  that  which  he  does  not  shame  to  call  religion. 
Enshrined  within  his  general  condemnation  of  the 
heathenism  of  the  Athenians  there  lies  thus  a 
recognition  of  something  not  to  be  condemned — 
something  worthy  of  commendation  rather — fit 
even  on  his  lips  to  bear  the  name  of  "religion."  All 
this  is  implied  in  the  words  we  have  chosen  as 
our  text,  and  it  is  therefore  that  we  have  said  of 
them  that  they  give  us  the  gist  of  the  whole 
address.  "What  ye  thus  not  knowing  adore," 
says  Paul,  "  that  it  is  that  I  am  proclaiming  to 
you."  It  will  repay  us,  probably,  to  probe  the 
matter  a  little  in  the  way  of  its  wider  applica- 
tions. 

First,  then,  we  say  there  is  given  in  the  apos- 
tolic teaching  a  certain  recognition  to  the  religion 
of  the  heathen. 

We  do  not  say,  mark  you,  that  a  recognition 
is  given  to  the  heathen  religions.  That  is  some- 
thing very  different.  The  heathen  religions  are 
uniformly  treated  as  degrading  to  man  and  insult- 
ing to  God.  The  language  of  a  recent  writer  which 
declares  that  man's  "most  unfortunate  things" 
are  his  rehgions — nay,  that  man's  religions  are 
"among  his  worst  crimes" — is  thoroughly  justi- 
fied by  the  apostoHc  attitude  toward  them.     Read 


FALSE  RELIGIONS  AND  THE  TRUE        229 

but  the  account  given  at  the  end  of  the  first 
chapter  of  Romans  of  the  origin  of  these  reHg- 
ions  in  the  progressive  degradation  of  man's 
thought  of  God,  as  man's  repeated  withdrawals 
from  God  and  God's  repeated  judicial  blindings 
of  man  interwork  to  the  steady  destruction  of  all 
religious  insight  and  all  moral  perception  alike, 
and  from  this  observe  how  the  writers  of  the 
New  Testament  conceived  of  the  relierions  which 
men  have  in  the  procession  of  the  ages  formed 
for  themselves. 

Nor  is  it  to  be  imagined  that  only  the  more 
degraded  of  the  popular  superstitions  were  in 
the  apostle's  mind  when  he  painted  this  dreadful 
picture  of  the  fruits  of  human  religious  think- 
ing. In  an  almost  contemporary  epistle  he 
calmly  passes  his  similar  judgment  on  all  the 
philosophies  of  the  world.  Not  by  all  its  wisdom, 
he  tells  us,  has  the  world  come  to  know  God, 
but  in  these  higher  elaborations  also,  becoming 
vain  in  its  imaginations,  its  foolish  heart  has  only 
become  darkened.  In  a  somewhat  later  epistle 
he  sums  up  his  terrible  estimate  of  the  religious 
condition  of  the  Gentiles  in  that  dreadful  declara- 
tion that  "  they  walk  in  the  vanity  of  their  mind, 
being  darkened  in  their  understanding,  alienated 
from  the  life  of  God,  because  of  the  ignorance 


230     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

that  is  in  them,  because  of  the  hardening  of  their 
heart." 

This  is  what  the  apostle  thought — not  of 
some  heathen,  but  of  heathen  as  such,  in  their 
reHgious  hfe — not  of  the  degraded  bushmen  of 
Austraha  or  Africa  or  New  Guinea,  but  of  the 
piiilosophic  minds  of  Greece  and  Rome  in  the 
palmiest  days  of  their  intellectual  development 
and  ethical  and  aesthetic  culture ;  of  the  Socrateses 
and  Platos  and  Aristotles  and  Epictetuses  and 
Marcus  Aureliuses  of  that  ancient  world,  which 
some  would  have  us  look  upon  as  so  fully  to  have 
found  God  as  veritably  to  have  taken  heaven  by 
storm  and  to  have  entered  it  by  force  of  its  own 
attainments.  To  him  it  was,  on  the  contrary,  in 
his  briefest  phrase,  "without  hope  and  without 
God." 

Nevertheless,  alongside  of  and  in  the  very 
midst  of  this  sweeping  and  unmitigated  condem- 
nation of  the  total  religious  manifestation  of 
heathendom  there  exists  an  equally  constant  and 
distinct  recognition  of  the  reality  and  value  of  re- 
ligion even  amoncf  the  heathen.  It  does  not  seem 
ever  to  have  occurred  to  the  writers  of  the  New 
Testament  to  doubt  that  religion  is  as  universal 
as  intelligence  itself;  or  to  question  the  reality  or 


FALSE  RELIGIONS  AND  THE  TRUE 


2^1 


value  of  this  universal  religiousness.  To  them 
man,  as  such,  appears  to  be  esteemed  no  more  a 
reasonable  creature  than  a  religious  animal ;  and 
they  appeal  to  his  religious  instinct  and  build 
upon  it  expectations  of  a  response  to  their  appeal, 
with  the  same  confidence  which  they  show  when 
they  make  their  appeal  to  his  logical  faculty. 
They  apparently  no  more  expect  to  find  a  man 
without  religion  than  they  expect  to  find  a  man 
without  understanding,  and  they  seem  to  attach 
the  same  fundamental  value  to  his  inherent  relig- 
iousness as  to  his  inherent  rationality. 

In  this  the  passage  that  is  more  particularly 
before  us  to-day  is  thoroughly  representative  of 
the  whole  New  Testament.  Paul,  it  is  seen  at 
once,  does  not  here  in  any  way  question  the  fact 
that  the  Athenians  are  religious,  any  more  than  he 
questions  that  they  are  human  beings.  He  notes, 
rather,  with  satisfaction  that  they  are  very  espe- 
cially religious.  ''I  perceive  that  ye  are  in  all 
things  exceedingly  divinity-fearing."  There  is  a 
note  of  commendation  in  that  which  is  unmis- 
takable. Nor  does  he  betray  any  impulse  to 
denounce  their  religious  sentiment  as  intrinsically 
evil.  On  the  contrary,  he  takes  it  frankly  as  the 
basis  of  his  appeal  to  them.  In  effect,  he  essays 
merely  to  direct  and  guide  its  functioning,  and  in 


232     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

SO  doing  recognizes  it  as  the  foundation  of  all  the 
religious  life  which  he  would,  as  the  teacher  of 
Christianity  to  them,  fain  see  developed  in  and 
by  them.  In  the  same  spirit  he  always  deals  with 
what  we  may  call  the  inherent  religiousness  of 
humanity.  Man,  as  such,  in  his  view  is  truly  and 
fundamentally  religious. 

Now  this  frank  recognition,  or,  we  might  better 
say,  this  emphatic  assertion  of  the  inherent 
religiousness  of  humanity,  constitutes  a  fact  of 
the  first  importance  in  the  biblical  revelation.  It 
puts  the  seal  of  divine  revelation  on  the  great 
fundamental  doctrine  that  there  exists  in  man  a 
fiotitia  Dei  iiisita — a  natural  knowledge  of  God, 
which  man  can  no  more  escape  than  he  can 
escape  from  his  own  humanity.  Endowed  with 
an  ineradicable  sense  of  dependence  and  of 
responsibility,  man  knows  that  Other  on  which 
he  depends  and  to  whom  he  is  responsible  in  the 
very  same  act  by  which  he  knows  himself  As 
he  can  never  know  himself  save  as  dependent  and 
responsible,  he  can  never  know  himself  with- 
out a  consciousness  of  that  Other  Not-self,  on 
whom  he  is  dependent  and  to  whom  he  is 
responsible ;  and  in  this  co-knowledge  of  self 
and   Over-not-self  is   rooted  the  whole  body  of 


FALSE  RELIGIONS  AND  THE  TRUE        233 

his  religious  conceptions,  religious  feelings,  and 
religious  actions — which  are  just  as  inevitable 
functionings  of  his  intellect,  sensibility,  and  will 
as  any  actions  of  those  faculties,  the  most  inti- 
mate and  immediate  we  can  conceive  of.  Thus 
man  cannot  help  being  religious ;  God  is  impli- 
cated in  his  very  first  act  of  self-consciousness, 
and  he  can  avoid  thinking  of  God,  feeling  toward 
Him,  acting  with  respect  to  Him,  only  by  avoid- 
ing thinking,  feeling,  and  acting  with  respect  to 
self 

How  he  shall  conceive  God — what  notion  he 
shall  form,  that  is,  of  that  Over-not-self  in  con- 
trast with  which  he  is  conscious  of  dependence 
and  responsibilty ;  how  he  shall  feel  toward  God 
— that  is,  toward  that  Over-not-self,  conceived 
after  this  fashion  or  that ;  how  he  shall  comport 
himself  toward  God — that  is,  over  against  that 
Over-not-self,  so  and  not  otherwise  conceived, 
and  so  and  not  otherwise  felt  toward :  these 
questions,  it  is  obvious,  raise  additional  problems, 
the  solution  of  which  must  wait  upon  accurate 
knowledge  of  the  whole  body  of  conditions  and 
circumstances  in  which  the  faculties  of  intellect, 
feeling,  and  will  function  in  each  given  case.  But 
that  in  his  very  first  act  of  consciousness  of  self 
as  a  dependent  and  responsible  and  not  as  a  self- 


234     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

centered  and  self-sufficient  being,  man  is  brought 
into  contact  with  the  Over-not-self  on  which  he 
is  dependent  and  to  which  he  is  responsible ;  and 
must  therefore  form  some  conception  of  it,  feel  in 
some  way  toward  it,  and  act  in  some  manner 
with  respect  to  it,  is  as  certain  as  that  he  will 
think  and  feel  and  act  at  all. 

That  man  is  a  religious  being,  therefore,  and  will 
certainly  have  a  religion,  is  rooted  in  his  very  nature, 
and  is  as  inevitable  as  it  is  that  man  will  every- 
where and  always  be  man.  But  what  religion  man 
will  have  is  no  more  subject  to  exact  a  priori  deter- 
mination than  is  the  product  of  the  action  of  his 
faculties  along  any  other  line  of  their  functioning. 
Religion  exists  and  must  exist  everywhere  where 
man  lives  and  thinks  and  feels  and  acts ;  but  the 
religions  that  exist  will  be  as  varied  as  the  idio- 
syncrasies of  men,  the  conditions  in  which  their 
faculties  work,  the  influences  that  play  on  them 
and  determine  the  character  of*  their  thoughts 
and  feelings  and  deeds. 

Bearing  this  in  mind,  we  shall  not  be  surprised 
to  note  that  along  with  the  recognition  of  the 
religiousness  of  man  embodied  in  the  apostolic 
teaching,  there  is  equally  prominent  in  it,  as  we 
have  said,  the  unwavering  assertion  of  the  abso- 


FALSE  RELIGIONS  AND  THE  TRUE        235 

lute  necessity  of  religious  instruction  for  the  proper 
religious  development  of  man. 

The  whole  mission  of  the  apostle  is  founded 
upon,  or,  more  properly  speaking,  is  the  appro- 
priate expression  of,  this  point  of  sight.  Nor 
could  he  be  untrue  to  it  on  an  occasion  like  that 
which  is  more  particularly  engaging  our  attention 
to-day.  We  observe,  then,  as  we  have  already 
pointed  out,  that  though  he  commends  the  Athe- 
nians for  their  God-fearingness  and  finds  in  their 
altar  to  a  "not-known  god"  a  point  of  attachment 
for  his  proclamation  of  the  true  God ;  he  does  not 
for  a  moment  suggest  that  their  native  religious- 
ness could  be  left  safely  to  itself  to  blossom  into 
a  fitting  religious  life ;  or  that  his  proclamation  of 
the  known  God  of  heaven  and  earth  possessed 
only  a  relative  necessity  for  them. 

Clearly  he  presents  the  necessity  rather  as  abso- 
lute. God  had  for  a  time,  no  doubt,  left  the  nations 
of  the  world  to  the  guidance  of  their  own  relig- 
ious nature,  that  they  might  seek  after  Him  in  the 
possible  expectation  at  least  of  finding  Him.  But 
on  God's  part  this  was  intended  rather  as  a 
demonstration  of  their  incapacity  than  as  a  hope- 
ful opportunity  afforded  them ;  and  in  its  results 
it  provides  an  empirical  proof  of  the  absolute 
necessity  of  His  interference  with  direct  guidance. 


236     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

Accordingly  the  apostle  roundly  characterizes  the 
issue  of  all  heathen  religious  development,  in- 
clusive of  that  in  Athens  itself,  the  seat  of  the 
highest  heathen  thinking  on  divine  things,  as  just 
bald  ignorance.  That  the  world  by  its  wisdom 
knows  not  God  and  lies  perishing  in  its  ignorance 
is  the  most  fixed  element  of  his  whole  religious 
philosophy. 

What  is  involved  here  is,  of  course,  the  whole 
question  of  the  necessity  of  "  special  revelation." 
It  is  a  question  which  has  been  repeatedly  fought 
out  during  the  course  of  Christian  history.  In  the 
eighteenth  century,  for  example,  it  was  this  very 
issue  that  was  raised  in  the  sharpest  possible  form 
by  the  deistic  controversy.  A  coterie  of  religious 
philosophers,  possessing  an  eye  for  little  in  man 
beyond  his  logical  understanding,  undertook  to 
formulate  what  they  called  the  **  natural  religion." 
This  they  then  set  over  against  the  supernatural 
religion,  which  Christianity  professed  to  be,  as  the 
religion  of  nature  in  contrast  with  the  religion  of 
authority — authority  being  prejudged  to  be  in  this 
sphere  altogether  illegitimate.  The  result  was 
certainly  instructive.  Bernard  Piinger  is  not  a  jot 
too  severe  when  he  remarks  of  this  boasted 
"  natural  religion  "  of  the  Deists,  that  it  deserves 


FALSE  RELIGIONS  AND  THE  TRUE        237 

neither  element  of  its  designation.  *'  It  is,"  he 
declares,  "  neither  religion  nor  natural,  but  only 
an  extremely  artificial  abstraction  of  theologians 
and  philosophers.  It  is  no  religion,  for  nowhere, 
in  no  spot,  in  either  the  old  or  new  world,  has 
there  ever  existed  even  the  smallest  community 
which  recognized  this  '  natural  religion.'  And  it 
is  not  natural ;  for  no  simple  man  ever  arrived  of 
himself  at  the  ideas  of  this  'natural  religion.' " 

And  when  it  was  thus  at  last  formulated  by  the 
philosophers  of  the  eighteenth  century,  it  proved 
no  religion  even  to  them.  A  meager  body  of 
primary  abstract  truth  concerning  God  and  His 
necessary  relations  to  man  was  the  entire  result. 
This  formed,  indeed,  an  admirable  witness  to  the 
rational  rooting  of  these  special  truths  concerning 
God  and  our  relations  to  Him  in  the  very  nature 
of  man  as  a  dependent  and  responsible  being ; 
and  this  the  Christian  thinker  may  well  view  with 
satisfaction.  It  may  be  taken  as  supplying  him 
also  with  a  demonstration,  once  for  all,  that  an 
adequate  body  of  religious  truth  can  never  be 
obtained  by  the  artificial  process  of  abstracting 
from  all  the  religions  of  the  world  the  elements 
held  in  common  by  them  all,  and  labeHng  this 
"natural  religion."  Neither  in  religion  nor  in  any 
other   sphere   of  life   can   the   maxim   be  safely 


238  THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

adopted  that  the  least  well-endowed  member  of  a 
coterie  shall  be  crowned  king  over  all.  Yet  obvi- 
ously that  is  the  result  of  proceeding  by  what  is 
called  "the  consensus  method"  in  seeking  a  norm 
of  religious  truth. 

Taught  wisdom  by  experience  Hke  this,  our 
more  modern  world  has  found  a  new  method  of 
ridding  itself  of  the  necessity  of  revelation.  The 
way  was  pointed  out  to  it  by  no  less  a  genius  than 
Friedrich  Schleiermacher  himself.  Led  no  doubt 
by  the  laudable  motive  of  seeking  a  place  for 
religion  unassailable  on  the  shallow  ground  of  in- 
tellectualistic  criticism,  he  relegated  it  in  its  origin 
exclusively  to  the  region  of  feeling.  In  essence  he 
said,  religion  is  the  immediate  feehng  of  absolute 
dependence. 

He  calls  it  an  "immediate  feeling"  or  an  "im- 
mediate self-consciousness  "  just  in  order  to  elimi- 
nate from  it  every  intellectual  element.  That 
is  to  say,  he  wishes  to  distinguish  between  two 
forms  of  self-consciousness  or  feeling,  the  one 
mediated  by  the  perception  of  an  object  and 
the  other  not  so  mediated,  but  consisting  in  an 
immediate  and  direct  sensation,  abstracted  from 
every  intellectual  representation  or  idea;  and  in 
this  latter  class  of  feelings  he  places  that  feeling 


FALSE  RELIGIONS  AND  THE  TRUE        239 

of  absolute  dependence  with  which  he  identifies 
religion.  Religion,  therefore,  it  is  argued,  is  en- 
tirely independent  of  every  intellectual  conception; 
it  is  rooted  in  a  pure  feeling  or  immediate  con- 
sciousness which  enters  into  and  affects  all  of  our 
intellectual  exercises,  but  is  itself  absolutely  inde- 
pendent of  them  all,  and  persists  the  same  through 
whatever  intellectual  conceptions  we  may  form  of 
the  object  of  our  worship  or  through  whatever 
actions  we  may  judge  appropriate  to  the  service 
of  that  object  thus  or  otherwise  conceived. 

Upon  the  basis  of  this  mode  of  conceiving 
religion  we  have  been  treated  of  late  to  innumer- 
able paeans  to  religion  as  a  primal  force  running 
through  all  the  religions ;  and  are  being  constantly 
exhorted  to  recognize  as  absolutely  immaterial 
what  forms  it  takes  in  its  several  manifestations, 
and  to  greet  it  as  subsisting  equally  valid  and 
equally  noble  beneath  all  its  forms  of  manifesta- 
tion indifferently,  because  in  itself  independent  of 
them  all.  It  is  thus  only  the  common  cry  that 
echoes  all  around  us  which  Pere  Hyacinthe  repeats 
in  his  passionate  declaration  :  "  It  is  not  true  that 
all  religions  are  false  except  one  only." 

Only  a  few  years  ago  when  a  professor  was  being 
inducted  into  a  new  chair  of  the  History  of  Religion 
established  in  one  of  the  oldest  of  the  Reformed 


240     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

schools,  he  took  up  the  same  cry  with  much  the 
same  passion,  and  professed  himself  able  to  feel 
brotherhood  with  every  form  of  religion — except 
that  perhaps  which  arrogated  to  itself  to  be  the 
only  legitimate  form.  "  When  the  history  of  relig- 
ions," he  eloquently  said,  "places  in  our  hands  the 
religious  archives  of  humanity  it  is  surely  our  duty 
rather  to  garner  these  treasures  than  to  proclaim 
Christianity  the  only  good,  the  only  true  one 
among  the  religions  of  men.  *  We  also,  we  also 
are  the  offspring  of  God,'  the  poet  Aratus  cried 
three  centuries  before  Christ.  Let  us  pause  before 
this  cry  of  the  human  soul  and  let  us  contemplate 
with  attention  the  luminous  web  in  which  the 
history  of  this  divine  sonship  has  been  woven  by 
universal  worship.  When  we  have  opened,  with 
the  same  respect  which  we  demand  for  our  ow^n, 
the  sacred  books  of  other  peoples,  when  we  have 
observed  them  chnging,  as  to  their  most  holy 
possessions,  to  their  sublime  traditions,  in  which 
are  enshrined  the  mother-thoughts  of  all  true 
religion — lavishing  their  genius  in  exalting  them, 
sacrificing  their  fortunes  in  defending  them,  exiling 
themselves  to  the  most  distant  lands  and  sinking 
into  the  burning  sands  in  propagating  them, 
accepting  death  itself  in  order  to  preserve  them — 
our  hearts,  moved  with    surprise  and   brotherly 


FALSE  RELIGIONS  AND  THE  TRUE        241 

sympathy,  will  repudiate  for  ever  the  Pharisaic 
pride  which  treats  as  heathen  or  as  uncircumcised 
all  God's  creatures  which  are  without  the  sacred 
pale  of  the  elect."  "  Men  of  all  nations,"  he  tells 
us,  "  and  of  all  tongues — whether  savage  or  civil- 
ized, whether  ignorant  or  instructed,  whether  Parsi 
or  Christian — though  God  may  have  been  revealed 
to  them  diversely,  though  they  may  be  looking 
up  to  Him  through  variously-colored  glasses — 
are  yet  all  looking  nevertheless  up  to  the  same 
God,  by  whatever  liturgical  name  He  may  be 
known  to  them — and  it  is  to  Him  that  all  their 
prayers  aHke  are  ascending.  And  to  all  of  them," 
he  adds,  "  I  feel  myself  a  brother — except  to  the 
hypocrite."  "  No  one,"  he  concludes,  "  who  has 
ever  felt  echoing  in  his  heart  the  murmur  of  this 
universal  worship  will  ever  be  able  to  return  to 
the  sectarian  apologetics  with  which  the  unhappi- 
ness  of  the  times  inspired  the  Jews  after  the  exile, 
and  which  from  Judaism  has  passed  into  the 
Church  of  Christ." 

I  have  not  thus  adverted  to  this  eloquent 
address  because  it  is  especially  extreme  in  its 
assertions.  It  is  not.  Rather,  let  it  be  said,  it 
enunciates  with  unusual  balance  and  moderation 
views   common  to    a   large  part  of  the   modern 

world.     It  is  on  this  very  account  that  I  have 
16 


243     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

adduced  its  presentation  of  this  very  widespread 
conception — because  it  affords  us  a  very  favorable 
opportunity  to  observe  it  at  its  best,  touched  with 
fervor  and  announced  with  winning  eloquence  of 
speech.  Even  in  it,  however,  we  may  perceive 
the  portentous  results  to  which  the  whole  con- 
ception of  religion  as  an  "  immediate  feeling  "  may 
take  us — nay,  must  inevitably  carry  us.  If  what 
it  tells  us  be  true,  it  obviously  is  of  no  importance 
whatever  with  what  conceptions  religion  may  be 
connected.  So  only  the  religious  sentiment  be 
present,  all  that  enters  into  the  essence  of  religion 
is  there;  and  one  may  call  himself  Brahmin  or 
Mohammedan,  Parsi  or  Christian,  and  may  see 
God  through  whatever  spectacles  and  name  Him 
by  whatever  designation  he  will,  and  yet  be  and 
remain  alike,  and  alike,  validly,  religious.  We 
may  justly  look  upon  this  inevitable  result  of  the 
identification  of  religion  with  an  "  immediate  feel- 
ing "  as  its  sufficient  refutation. 

In  no  event  could  it  be  thought  difficult,  how- 
ever, to  exhibit  the  untenability  of  this  entire  con- 
ception. We  should  probably  only  need  to  ask, 
How  could  an  abstract  feeling  of  dependence, 
with  no  implication  whatever  of  the  object  on 
which   the    dependence    leans,   possess   any   dis- 


FALSE  RELIGIONS  AND  THE  TRUE        243 

tinctively  religious  quality  whatever?  It  would 
appear  too  clear  to  require  arguing  that  the  whole 
religious  quality  of  a  feeling  of  dependence,  recog- 
nized as  rehgious,  must  be  derived  necessarily 
from  the  nature  of  the  object  depended  upon — 
viz.,  God.  If  we  conceive  that  object  as  some- 
thing other  than  God,  then  the  feeling  of  depen- 
dence ceases  to  be  in  any  intelligible  sense  re- 
ligious. It  is  assuredly  only  on  God  that  a 
specifically  religious  feeling  can  rest. 

Schleiermacher  himself  appears  to  have  felt 
this.  And  accordingly  he  distinguished  between 
the  feeling  of  dependence  in  general  and  the 
feeling  of  absolute  dependence  in  particular ;  and 
on  the  supposition  that  absolute  dependence  can 
be  felt  only  toward  the  Absolute,  confined  the 
religious  feeling  to  it.  Here  there  appears  to 
be  a  subintroduction  of  the  idea  of  God ;  and 
therefore  a  veiled  admission  that  we  have  in 
this  "  feeling  of  absolute  dependence "  not  an 
"  immediate  feeling,"  but  a  feeling  mediated  by  an 
idea,  to  wit,  the  idea  of  God.  Thus  the  whole 
contention  is,  in  principle,  yielded ;  and  we  revert 
to  the  more  natural  and  only  valid  ground — that 
all  their  quality  is  supplied  to  feelings  by  the 
objects  to  which  they  are  directed,  and  that, 
therefore,  the  nature  of  our  conceptions  so  far 


244     THE  POWER  OP^  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

from  having  nothing,  has  everything,  to  do  with 
rehgion. 

I  recall  with  great  vividness  of  memory  a 
striking  picture  I  once  saw,  painted  by  that  weird 
Russo-German  genius  Sasha  Schneider,  in  order 
to  illustrate  religion  conceived  as  the  feeling  of 
absolute  dependence,  and  at  the  same  time  to 
express  the  artist's  repugnance  to  it  and  scorn  of 
it.  It  has  seemed  to  me  to  provide  us  with  a 
most  striking  parable.  He  figures  a  man  stripped 
naked  and  laden  down  with  chains,  head  bowed, 
in  every  trait  dejection,  every  fiber  of  every 
muscle  relaxed,  every  line  a  hne  of  hopelessness 
and  despair.  The  ground  on  which  he  stands 
is  the  earth  itself,  fashioned,  however,  into  the 
hideous  presentment  of  a  monstrous  form,  so 
painted  as  to  give  it  the  texture  of  hard,  black, 
iron-Hke  stone.  The  horizon  that  stretches  around 
the  figure  and  seems  to  bend  in  upon  him  con- 
sists of  two  great  iron-like  arms  ending  in  dread- 
fully protuberant  fingers,  which  appear  about  to 
close  in  on  his  limbs;  while  just  before  him  heavy 
shoulders  rise  slightly  into  a  low  forbidding  hil- 
lock, and  between  them  thrusts  forward  the  hard 
mound  of  a  scarce-distinguishable  head,  lit  by  two 
malevolent  eyes,  like  low  volcano-fires  glaring  up 
upon  their  victim.     Thus  is  set  forth  the  artist's 


FALSE  RELIGIONS  AND  THE  TRUE        245 

conception  of  religious  sentiment  as  the  "  feeling 
of  absolute  dependence." 

Yes — but  we   then    must   add,  there  are   two 
points   that   require    criticism    in    the   conception 
presented.     First,  in  this  figure  of  a  despondent 
man,  the  artist  has,  after  all,  painted  not  the  feel- 
ing of  dependence,  but  rather  the  feeling  of  help- 
lessness.    These  are  very  different  things.     And 
in  their  difference  we  touch,  as  I  think,  the  very 
heart  of  the  error  we  are  seeking  to  unmask.     A 
feeling  of  dependence,  properly  so-called,  neces- 
sarily implies  an   object:   helplessness — yes,  that 
may  exist  without  an  object,  but  not  dependence. 
He  that  depends  must  needs  have  somewhat  on 
which  to    depend.     A   feeling   of  dependence   is 
unthinkable  apart  from  the  object  on  which  the 
dependence   rests.      In   picturing   for    us    abject 
"helplessness,"    then,    the    artist   has    not  at   all 
pictured    for    us    "dependence."     The   former   is 
passive,   the  latter  is  active,  and   the  abjectness 
that  belongs  to  the  one  is  not  at  all  inherent  in 
the  other.     Secondly,  even  so,  the  artist  has  not 
been  able  to  get  along  without  an   object.     He 
has  painted  this  dejected   man  :    there  he  stands 
before  us  the  very  picture  of  helplessness.     But 
the  artistic  sense  is  not  satisfied  :  and  so  he  throws 
around  him    these  hideous    encircHng  arms;    he 


246     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

sets  upon  him  this  baleful  gaze.  He  must  sug- 
gest, after  all,  an  object  toward  which  the  feeling 
of  dependence  he  is  endeavoring  to  depict  turns. 
But  why  this  hideous  object?  Only  to  justify 
the  abjectness  of  the  figure  he  has  painted.  From 
which  we  may  learn  at  once  that  the  character 
of  the  feeling — all  that  gives  quality  and  meaning 
to  it — is,  after  all,  necessarily  dependent  on  the 
nature  of  the  object  to  which  it  is  referred. 

And  so,  if  we  mistake  not,  Sasha  Schneider's 
picture  is  itself  the  sufficient  refutation  of  the 
whole  conception  of  religion  we  are  discussing. 
Given  no  object,  the  figure  of  helplessness  re- 
mains inexplicable  and  meaningless  and  will  re- 
sult in  nothing.  Given  a  monstrous  object,  it 
develops  at  once  into  a  figure  of  abject  misery. 
Given  a  glorious  object — a  God  of  righteousness 
and  goodness — and  only  then  does  it  develop 
into  a  figure  of  that  dependence  which  we  call 
religion.  And  if  we  require  an  earthly  image  of 
this  feeling  of  dependence,  let  us  find  it  in  an 
infant  on  its  mother's  bosom,  looking  up  in  confi- 
dence and  trust  into  a  face  on  which  it  perceives 
the  smiles  of  goodness  and  love.  Even  the 
heathen  poet  tells  us  that  the  happy  infant  laughs 
as  it  sees  the  smile  of  love  on  the  mother's  coun- 
tenance.    It  is  in  such  scenes  as  this  that  the  true 


FALSE  RELIGIONS  AND  THE  TRUE        247 

earthly  portrait  of  the  absolute  dependence,  which 
is  rehgion  is  to  be  found. 

But  it  is  neither  to  logical  analysis  nor  to 
the  artistic  instinct  of  a  Sasha  Schneider  that  we 
need  to  turn  to-day  to  assure  ourselves  that  this 
whole  construction  of  religion  as  independent  of 
knowledge  is  impossible.  For  surely  it  is  obvious 
that  it  is  the  very  antipodes  of  Paul's  view  of  the 
matter.  This  we  have  already  sufficiently  pointed 
out,  and  need  only  now  to  remind  ourselves  of  it. 

Perhaps  it  is  enough  for  this  purpose  simply  to 
ask  afresh  how  Paul  dealt  with  the  religiousness 
of  the  Athenians,  notable  as  they  were  among 
all  nations  for  their  religiousness.  Assuredly  he 
did  not  withhold  due  recognition  from  it.  "O 
men  of  Athens,"  he  cried,  "  I  perceive  that  in  all 
things  ye  are  exceedingly  religious."  But  did  he 
account  this  exceeding  religiousness  enough  for 
their  needs?  As  he  went  about  the  streets  of 
Athens  and  beheld  the  great  city  studded  with 
idols — one  great  sanctuary,  as  it  were— did  he 
reason  within  himself  that  the  forms  of  manifes- 
tation were  of  no  importance,  that  through  and 
beneath  them  we  should  rather  perceive  that  pure 
impulse  to  worship  which  sustained  and  gave 
vitality  and  value  to  them  all;  and,  observing  in 


248     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

it  the  essence  of  all  religions  alike,  recognize  it  as 
enough  ? 

Our  text  gives  us  the  emphatic  answer:  "What 
ye,  thus,  in  ignorance  adore,  that  it  is  that  I 
declare  unto  you."  The  whole  justification  of 
his  mission  hangs  on  the  value  he  attaches  to 
knowledge  as  the  informing  principle  of  all  right, 
of  all  valid,  of  all  availing  religion.  And  if  we 
care  to  follow  Paul  we  must  for  our  part  also,  once 
and  for  all,  renounce  with  the  strongest  emphasis 
all  attempts  to  conceive  the  native  religious 
impulse  as  capable  in  sinful  man  of  producing 
religious  phenomena  which  can  be  recognized  as 
well  pleasing  in  the  sight  of  God. 

No  doubt  we  shall  be  under  manifold  tempta- 
tions to  do  otherwise.  Our  modern  atmosphere 
is  charged  to  saturation  with  temptations  to  do 
otherwise.  Let  us  all  the  more  carefully  arm 
ourselves  against  them.  In  warning  us  against 
this  overestimate  of  natural  religions  Paul  may 
perhaps  be  allowed  to  give  us  also  a  name  for  it,  by 
the  employment  of  which  we  may  possibly  be  able 
to  put  a  new  point  on  our  self-admonitions.  He 
calls  it,  as  we  have  seen,  in  the  case  of  the  Athe- 
nians, by  a  term  of  somewhat  peculiar  flavor. 
"  Divinity-fearing  "   we   bunglingly   translate  it — 


FALSE  RELIGIONS  AND  THE  TRUE        249 

that  is,  so  to  say,  "generally  Divinity-fearing," 
without  too  close  inquisition  into  which  divinity 
it  is  that  we  fear  or  what  is  the  character  of  the 
service  that  we  render  it.  "  Deisidaimonism  "  is 
the  Greek  term  he  makes  use  of  It  is  an  uncouth 
term.  But,  then,  it  is  not  a  very  lovely  thing  it 
designates.  And  perhaps,  in  the  absence  of  a 
good  translation,  we  may  profitably  adopt  the 
Greek  term  to-day,  with  all  its  uncouthness  of 
sound  and  its  unlovely  association,  and  so  enable 
ourselves  to  make  a  recognizable  distinction  be- 
tween that  general  natural  religiosity  and  its  fruits 
which  we  may  call  "  deisidaimonism  "  and  true 
religion,  which  is  the  product  of  the  saving  truth 
of  God  operating  upon  our  native  religious  in- 
stincts and  producing  through  them  phenomena 
which  owe  all  their  value  to  the  truth  that  gives 
them  form. 

Ah,  brethren,  let  us  avoid  "  deisidaimonism  "  in 
all  its  manifestations  !  As  you  look  out  over  the 
heathen  world  with  its  lords  many  and  gods  many, 
and  see  working  in  every  form  of  faith  the  same 
religious  impulses,  the  same  religious  aspirations, 
producing  in  varying  measure  indeed,  but  yet 
everywhere,  to  some  extent,  the  same  civilizing 
and  moralizing  effects — are  you  perhaps  sometimes 
tempted  to  pronounce  it  enough ;  possibly  adding 


250     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

something  about  the  special  adaptation  of  the 
several  faiths  to  the  several  peoples,  or  even  some- 
thing about  the  essential  truth  underlying  all 
religions  ?  This  is  *'  deisidaimonism."  And  on 
its  basis  the  whole  missionary  work  of  the  Church 
is  an  impertinence,  the  whole  history  of  the 
Church  a  gigantic  error;  the  great  commission 
itself  a  crime  against  humanity — launching  the 
Christian  world  upon  a  fool's  errand,  every  step 
of  which  has  dripped  with  wasted  blood.  Surely 
the  proclamation  of  the  gospel  is  made,  then, 
mere  folly  and  the  blood  of  the  martyrs  becomes 
only  the  measure  of  the  narrow  fanaticism  of 
earlier  and  less  enlightened  times. 

It  is  possible,  however,  that  your  temptation 
does  not  come  to  you  in  such  a  crass  shape.  Per- 
haps it  may  whisper  to  you  only  something  about 
the  narrowness  of  sectarianism  within  the  limits 
of  Christianity — of  the  folly  of  contentions  over 
what  we  may  at  the  moment  be  happening  to  call 
"  the  truth."  Look,  it  may  say — do  you  not  see 
that  under  every  faith  the  religious  life  flourishes  ? 
Why  lay  stress  then  on  creed  ?  Creeds  are  divis- 
ive things ;  away  with  them !  Or  at  least  let  us 
prune  all  their  distinctive  features  away,  and  give 
ourselves  a  genial  and  unpolemic  Christianity,  a 
Christianity  in  which  all   the  stress  is  laid  on  life, 


FALSE  RELIGIONS  AND  THE  TRUE        251 

not  dogma,  the  life  of  the  spirit  in  its  aspirations 
toward  God,  or  perchance,  even  the  hfe  of  external 
activities  in  the  busy  fulfillment  of  the  duties  of 
life.  This  too,  you  observe,  is  "  deisidaimonism." 
Embark  once  on  that  pathway  and  there  is  no 
logical  and — oh,  the  misfortune  of  it! — no  practical 
stopping-point  until  you  have  evaporated  all  rec- 
ognizable Christianity  away  altogether  and  reduced 
all  religion  to  the  level  of  man's  natural  religiosity. 
A  really  "  undogmatic  Christianity"  is  just  no 
Christianity  at  all. 

Let  us  not  for  an  instant  suppose,  to  be  sure, 
that  religion  is  a  matter  of  the  intellect  alone  or 
chiefly.  But  in  avoiding  the  Scylla  of  intellectual- 
ism  let  us  not  run  into  the  Charybdis  of  mere 
naturalism.  All  that  makes  the  religion  we  pro- 
fess distinctively  Christian  is  enshrined  in  its 
doctrinal  system.  It  is  therefore  that  it  is  a  relig- 
ion that  can  be  taught,  and  is  to  be  taught — that 
is  propagated  by  what  otherwise  would  be  surely, 
in  the  most  literal  sense,  the  foolishness  of  preach- 
ing. Mere  knowledge,  indeed,  does  not  edify ;  it 
only  puffs  up.  But  neither  without  knowledge 
can  there  be  any  edification ;  and  the  purer  the 
knowledge  that  is  propagated  by  any  church  the 
purer,  the  deeper,  the  more  vital  and  the  more 
vitalizing  will  be  the  Christianity  that  is  built  up 


252     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

under  that  church's  teaching.  Let  us  renounce, 
then,  in  this  sphere,  too,  all  "  deisidaimonism,"  and 
demand  that  our  church  shall  be  the  church  of  a 
creed  and  that  that  creed  shall  be  the  pure  truth 
of  God — all  of  it  and  nothing  but  it.  Only  so 
can  we  be  truly,  purely,  and  vitally  Christian. 

And  what  shall  we  say  of  "  deisidaimonism  "  in 
the  personal  religious  life  ?  Ah,  brethren,  there 
is  where  its  temptations  are  the  most  subtle  and 
its  assaults  the  most  destructive  !  How  easy  it  is 
to  mistake  the  currents  of  mere  natural  religious 
feeling,  that  flow  up  and  down  in  the  soul,  for 
signs  that  it  is  well  with  us  in  the  sight  of  God ! 
Happy  the  man  who  is  born  with  a  deep  and 
sensitive  religious  nature  !  But  shall  that  purely 
natural  endowment  save  him  ?  There  are  many 
who  have  cried.  Lord,  Lord,  who  shall  never 
enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  Not  because 
you  are  sensitive  and  easily  moved  to  devotion ; 
not  because  your  sense  of  divine  things  is  pro- 
found or  lofty;  not  because  you  are  like  the 
Athenians,  by  nature  "  divinity-fearing  "  ;  but  be- 
cause, when  the  word  of  the  Lord  is  brought  to 
you,  and  Jesus  Christ  is  revealed  in  your  soul, 
under  the  prevailing  influence  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
you  embrace  Him  with  a  hearty  faith — cast  your- 
self upon  His  almighty  grace  for   salvation,  and 


FALSE  RELIGIONS  AND  THE  TRUE        253 

turning  from  your  sins,  enter  into  a  life  of  obedi- 
ence to  Him — can  you  judge  yourself  a  Christian. 
Religious  you  may  be,  and  deeply  religious,  and 
yet  not  a  Christian.  How  instructive  that  when 
Paul  himself  preached  in  "  deisidaimonistic " 
Athens,  where  religiosity  ran  riot,  no  church 
seems  to  have  been  founded.  We  have  only  the 
meager  result  recorded  that  "there  were  some 
men  that  clave  unto  him  and  believed,  among 
whom  also  was  Dionysius,  the  Areopagite,  and 
a  woman  named  Damaris,  and  others  along  with 
them."  The  natively  religious  are  not,  therefore, 
nearer  to  the  kingdom  of  God. 

But,  thank  God,  the  contrary  is  also  true. 
Those  who  have  no  special  native  religious  en- 
dowments are  not,  therefore,  excluded  from  the 
kingdom  of  God.  We  may  rightly  bewail  our 
coldness:  we  may  rightly  blame  ourselves  that 
there  is  so  little  response  in  our  hearts  to  the 
sight  of  the  glory  of  God  in  the  face  of  Jesus 
Christ,  or  even  to  the  manifestation  of  His  un- 
speakable love  in  the  death  of  His  Son.  Oh, 
wretched  men  that  we  are  to  see  that  bleeding 
love  and  not  be  set  on  fire  with  a  flame  of  devo- 
tion !  But  we  may  be  all  the  more  thankful  that 
it  is  not  in  our  frames  and  feelings  that  we  are  to 
put  our  trust.     Let  us  abase  ourselves  that  we 


254     THE  POWER  OF  GOD  UNTO  SALVATION 

so  little  respond  to  these  great  spectacles  of  the 
everlasting  and  unspeakable  love  of  God.  But 
let  us  ever  remember  that  it  is  on  the  love  of  God 
and  not  on  our  appreciation  of  it  that  we  are  to 
build  our  confidence.  Jesus  our  Priest  and  our 
Sacrifice,  let  us  keep  our  eyes  set  on  Him !  And 
though  our  poor  sinful  hearts  so  little  know  how 
to  yield  to  that  great  spectacle  the  homage  of  a 
suitable  response,  His  blood  will  yet  avail  even 
for  us. 

*'  Nothing  in  my  hand  I  bring, 
Simply  to  Thy  cross  I  cling" — 

here — and  let  us  bless  God  for  it — here  is  the 
essence  of  Christianity.  It  is  all  of  God  and 
nothing  of  ourselves. 


.-^N 


Date  Due 

AP  7   -53 

^^09t*»K/,,  . 

APR  2 

1 

i 

1 

<|) 

X 

